
Glass __E_5-Qi- 



Book ?ilA 



By bequest of 

Samuel Hay Kauffmann 



*^^- 



i3C.., 




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h 



IN MEMORIAM. 



•I 



JAMES M. COMLY 



Eo05 
. 5" 



JAMES M. COMLY. 



Born March 6, 1832. 



Died July 26, 1887. 



j.-im-el Hay K"-\if fir-ti£BX 
26 MAR 190r 



" Knowing General Comly intimately more than 

twenty -jive years, and especially having lived by his 

side, day and night, during almost the whole of the 

war, it would be strange, indeed, if I did not deem 

it a privilege and a labor of love to unite with his 

comrades in strewing flowers on the grave of one 

whose talents and achievements were so ample and 

so admirable, and whose life arid character were 

rounded to a completeness rarely found among the 

best and most gifted of meny 

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



I 



CONT ENTS. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
NOTICE OF BY G. S. C. 

ADDRESS BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF WEST 
VIRGIxNIA, AT WHEELING, AUG. 25, 1887, BY GENERAL 
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

EXTRACTS FROM GEN. COMLY'S WRITINGS. 

COMMENT BY THE PRESS. 

LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 

RESOLUTIONS. 



"SEbose bit in tbc combat, as gentle as bright, 
lle'er tarrieb a Ijcart slain atoaj) on its blabe." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



JAMES M. COMLY, journalist, was descended from 
a Pennsylvania family of Friends, the ancestor 
of whom, Henry Comly, came to Philadel]3hia with 
William Penn, in 1682. The grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, James, settled in Ohio in 
1804, and some years after the war of 1812, located 
where the town of New Lexington now stands, 
which town he and his brother laid out. His son, 
Bezaleel Welles Comly, here married Margaret Jane 
Stewart, born in Maryland, of whom James M. was 
born, in Perry County, Ohio, March 6, 1832. 

He was educated chiefly in the public schools 
of Columbus, and studied law with Christopher P. 
Wolcott, Attorney-General. Admitted to the bar of 
the Supreme Court in 1859, after a special examina- 
tion claimed by himself and a comrade, he had the 
honor of being sworn in open court by Chief Justice 
Swan. He practiced his profession successfully until 
June, 1861, when he entered the service of the 
United States as a private soldier, and was elected 
Lieutenant by his company. This company did 
independent guard duty on the border of West 
Virginia for some months, developing some excellent 
ofiicers, afterward prominent in the war. 

On the 12th of August, 1861, Lieutenant 
Comly accepted the apj)ointment of Lieutenant- 
Colonel in the Forty-Third Ohio Volunteers. After 



some time engaged in duty at Camp Chase, he be- 
came impatient for more active service, and begged 
an exchange with lower rank into some regiment in 
the field. Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley Matthews, of 
the Twenty-Third Ohio, having been promoted to 
Colonel of another regiment. Major Rutherford B. 
Hayes, of the Twenty-Third, was promoted to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, and Lieutenant-Colonel Comly was 
appointed to the vacancy, and was mustered in as 
Major of the Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteers, at 
Camp Ewing, on New River, in October, 1861. 

In answering a request by the editor of " Ohio 
in the War," for material fbr a personal biography, 
General Comly replied : 

" After I joined the Twenty-Third Regiment, 
I was fortunate in having superior officers who were 
most of the time in command of brigade or division, 
so that, as Major, and all the way up to my present 
rank, I was with my regiment in every action of 
every kind, and had it under my immediate com- 
mand in every battle in which it was engaged, after 
I joined it^ during the entire war, except for a short 
time on the morning of tlie battle of South Moun- 
tain, where I was second in command until Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Hayes was wounded— Colonel Scammon 
being in command of the Kanawha division. Tlie 
regiment was a good one. I desire no better mili- 
tary record than to have been with it, and worthy 
to command it." 

In regard to his military career, it is indissolubly 
interwoven with the history of his regiment, the 
Twenty-Third Ohio, which in point of service and 
patriotic valor stands in the van of Ohio regiments, 
and with which were connected such men as ex- 



President Hayes, Hon. Stanley Matthews, Gen. W. S. 
Rosecrans, and others, distinguished in the annals 
of their country. He received his commission as 
Major of the Twenty-Third on the 28th of October, 
1861, was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, October 
28, 1862, and promoted to Colonel October 19, 1864. 
Reid's history of the Twenty-Third shows that the 
winter of 1861 was devoted to recruiting, drill and 
discipline. On the 31st of December, 1861, two 
companies joined a detachment under Major Comly 
and occupied Raleigh C. H., West Virginia, without 
opposition. They captured a quantity of supplies, 
27 prisoners and over 300 stand of arms. Two more 
companies were added to this detachment, and on 
the 10th of February, 1862, Major Comly marched 
his command from Raleigh C. H. to the mouth of 
Blue Stone River, twenty-eight miles, through a 
snow storm, driving a regiment of the enemy's in- 
fantry and a force of cavalry, with considerable 
loss, across the river, capturing their camps, tents 
and forage. The detachment received the thanks 
of General Rosecrans, commanding the dej^artment, 
in general orders, for its bravery and efficiency. 

In the latter part of August, 1862, the regiment 
was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, and 
went into the battle of South Mountain, culmin- 
ating in the great battle of Antietam, on the 17th 
of September, in both of which the Twenty-Third 
participated. 

In the battle of South Mountain this regiment 
was the advance of the column, and was the first 
infantry engaged. The enemy, posted behind stone 
walls, in greatly superior force, poured a most de- 
structive fire of musketry, grape and canister into 

—9— 



its ranks, in a very short space of time. Here Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel R, B. Hayes, commanding, had his 
arm broken, and Captain Skiles and three Lieuten- 
ants were badly wounded, while over 100 dead and 
wounded lay on the field out of the 350 of the regi- 
ment, who went into the action. The command 
here devolved upon Major Comly and remained with 
him from that time forward. The remainder of the 
day the remnant of the regiment, led by Major 
Comly, made four splendid charges, three of which 
were with the bayonet, and in each of which the 
enemy was driven back with heavy loss. 

During that terrible day the Twenty -Third lost 
nearly two hundred men, of whom almost one-fourth 
were either killed on the field or afterwards died of 
their wounds. The regimental colors were riddled 
and the blue field almost completely carried away 
by shot and shell. 

In the great battle of Antietam the colors of 
the regiment were shot down, and after a moment's 
delay they were planted by Major Comly on a new 
line, at right angles with the former line, and with- 
out awaiting further order, fire was opened, before 
which the enemy was compelled to retire. 

On the 15th of October, 1862, the regiment arrived 
at Clarksburg, Virginia, where a change in the 
command was made. Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes 
was appointed Colonel and Major Comly promoted 
to Lieutenant-Colonel. The division was ordered to 
the Kanawha Valley, and on the 18th of November, 
the Twenty-Third went into winter quarters at the 
Falls of the Great Kanawha, having marched during 
that campaign about 600 miles. 

But it is unnecessary to follow the fortunes 

—10- 



and misfortunes of this gallant command, month 
after month and year after year, engaged as it was 
in forced marches, fierce skirmishes, hotly con- 
tested battles, and all the hardships and struggles 
and privations incident to an army in an enemy's 
country. 

On the 24th of July, 1864, a battle was fought at 
Winchester, Virginia, in which the Union forces 
were defeated and after an all-day contest, the 
Twenty -Third lost 153 men, ten of whom were com- 
missioned officers. In this action Lieutenant-Colonel 
Comly and many others were wounded. Subse- 
quently in that campaign, the Twenty-Third did 
heroic work and effective execution, engaged as it 
was in march, skirmish and fight, with almost unin- 
terrupted success. Among the engagements that 
followed in rapid succession during that campaign 
may be mentioned the battle of Berryville, of 
Opequan, North Mountain and Cedar Creek, culmi- 
nating in that great contest with General Early, 
rendered famous by the ride of Sheridan, who 
arrived in time to snatch victory from defeat. 

General Comly shared all the hardships and 
triumphs of his regiment, and on the 1st of January, 
1865, was promoted from Lieutenant-Colonel to 
Colonel, the commission dating from October 19th, 
1864. The regiment was mustered out at Cumber- 
land, on the 26th of July, 1865, after the collapse of 
the Southern Confederacy and the surrender of their 
forces. 

In October, 1865, he became editor and senior 
proprietor of the Ohio State Journal, which position 
he held until sent to the Hawaiian Islands, in 1877. 
He still retained an interest in the paper while he 

—11— 



occupied the position of Minister at Honolulu. As 
editor of the State Journal, he labored zealously for 
the success of the Republican party. While claiming 
and conceding the utmost independence and indi- 
viduality of personal opinion, he held that no line 
of civil policy and a republican government can be 
maintained in any other way than through party 
organization ; he held that the Republican party 
represented the best and noblest interests and aspi- 
rations of the country, and was proud to have the 
State Journal designated as the " central organ " of 
that party in Ohio, at the same time claiming as 
much "independence" as the non-partisan news- 
papers. This claim has been recognized and gener- 
ously conceded by the ablest of the independent 
press. 

The period covered by this editorial service was 
the most difficult in the history of journalism. The 
novel issues arising out of the war of the Rebellion 
had all to be met, and it was long before public 
sentiment — even party sentiment — fused into some- 
thing like unity and decision, under the ceaseless 
purging and moulding of the press of the country. 
The young journalist who came to the front in those 
days must have opinions, and decided opinions ; he 
must be quick and prompt to decide under the most 
perplexing sudden exigencies, or he went to the 
rear. New questions in the progress of reconstruc- 
tion were arising every day : the breach between 
Andrew Johnson and the Republican party opened 
and widened ; x^arty leaders were distracted at 
times, and knew not whether security or danger lay 
this way or that. The whole future of the country 
depended upon the first steps, then inexorably 



-12— 



pressing for decision, in the reconstruction of the 
Union ; the rights of the States lately in liebellion ; 
the question of suffrage for late slaves and late 
rebels in arms ; irreversible guarantees for the free- 
dom of the race redeemed from bondage ; the security 
of the public debt and its honest payment in coin ; 
the redemption of the greenl^acks, and the uphill 
road back to a stable currency of unchanging value ; 
the national bank currency; the tariff, internal 
revenue and a thousand novel and perplexing ques- 
tions of the gravest moment. 

These questions were apt to present sudden and 
anxious complications, as the news came over the 
wires at night, and the journal which was not ready 
the next morning with an opinion more or less wise 
on the new aspect of things could have no voice in 
public affairs. The State Journal maintained itself 
creditably during this anxious period in the history 
of the country, and gained additional power and 
influence as an independent organ of the Republican 
party. 

General Comly was appointed Postmaster of 
Columbus, by President Grant, in 1870. His reap- 
pointment was petitioned for by tlie State Executive 
Committees of the Republican, Democratic and 
Liberal parties, by the editors and proprietors of 
every newspaper in Columbus, by the President of 
the City Council, the President and members of the 
Board of Trade, and by the leading bankers and 
other business men, without distinction of party. 
He was reappointed. 

In 1877 he was appointed, by President Hayes, 
Minister to the Hawaiian Islands. When he was 
about to leave for Honolulu, a banquet was tendered 

—13— 



him by the Chairman of the Democratic State 
Executive Committee, Senator Thurman, the editor 
of the leading Democratic newspaper, and others, 
without distinction of party. 

During his sojourn of five years at HonoUrlu, 
as Minister resident, from September, 18V7, to 
August, 1882, although the duties of the position at 
that time were peculiarly trying, requiring an 
unusual degree of circumspection, he discharged 
them in such a way as to acquire the respect and 
approbation of all parties interested. He shaped 
the policy of his government in a manner which 
gained the special good will of the Hawaiian court, 
while bringing forward measures for the protection 
of American interests, which were particularly 
commended by the home government. On the eve 
of his departure for the United States from Honolulu 
a reception was given for him which evidenced the 
esteem in which he was held amongst all classes 
and all nationalities. A banquet was also tendered 
him by the American residents, at which the feeling 
demonstrated was such as can only be felt by fellow- 
countrymen in a strange land. 

The following appeared in the Hawaiian 
Gazette of August 30th, 1882 : 

" By the departure of General Comly, the United 
States citizens here lose an efficient representative of 
their country and one who at the same time was 
friendly to little Hawaii, and was anxious when it 
lay in his power to lend it a helping hand. He has 
ever been a consistent friend of the " treaty." Where 
he has thought it wise, he has interfered in our 
domestic affairs. On one great occasion the General, 
in concert with his diplomatic colleagues, took a 



-14— 



step, wliicli by its prompitude, overthrew the cal- 
culation of the wily adventurer, Moreno, and sent 
him out of the Cabinet and out of the country, thus 
helping by peaceful means to a solution of a diffi- 
culty, which it might otherwise have been neces- 
sary to solve by sterner and more unpleasant 
measures. 

''But it is not in their public capacity that we 
like to dwell upon the memory of our friends, how- 
ever useful, however brilliant the career may have 
been. The influence of General and Mrs. Comly 
socially, was very great ; it was not the influence of 
so-called leaders of fashion ; it did not lie in osten- 
tation or frivolity ; it lay in tlie charm of that home 
life, the beautiful home life, which made their little 
home circle an example to all of us here. The number 
of General Comly's friends in this city and this 
country is very large; it counts among its numbers 
people of wealth and position, but it also counts the 
young, and the General may feel proud that while 
busied with the afl'airs of State, he has been able to 
unbend enough to win to himself so many of our 
youth. 

''We all of us part from the General and his 
family with regret ; we all look forward to hearing 
of their future success. We hope that the General's 
political party in the United States may again have 
the support of that ever ready and trenchant pen 
which has done such yeoman service already; we 
all wish them every happiness in their new home, 
and we would like them to think that their memory 

—15— 



will long linger among ns ; that to use the words of 
Moore, 

" Long, long may our hearts with such luem'ries be filled, 
Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled ; 
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." 

And so adieu, and bon voyage/' 

On his return to Columbus, the Journal having 
been sold, negotiations were opened with the pro- 
prietors of the Toledo Commercial, which resulted in 
the purchase of that paper by General Comly, his 
former partner, A. W. Francisco, and A. E. Lee, 
ex-Consul General at Frankfort-on-the-Main. His 
return to the press of Ohio Avas heralded with 
enthusiastic greeting from every part of the State, 
and beyond, without distinction as to politics or 
party. 

In 1863. he married Elizabeth Marian Smith, 
daughter of Susan E. and Dr. Samuel M. Smith. 
Surgeon-General of Ohio during the war. Mrs. 
Smith was a daughter of Gen. Charles Anthony and 
Elizabeth Evans, of Springfield. Dr. Smith was a 
son of Samuel Smith and Margaret Mitchell, of 
Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio. 

General Comly had five children; two of whom 
died in infancy. His surviving children are : 

Guy Stuart Comly, born April 30, 1864, Susie 
iVnthony Comly, born November 26, 1865, Smith 
Mitchell Comly, born October 7, 1868. 



—16— 



A VIEW OF HIS CHARACTER. 



TAMES M. COMLY ^as, first of all. a journalist. 
J Even in his earliest years, his inclination led him 
in that direction. While a mere boy in the office 
of the Ohio State Journal, he was a frequent contri- 
butor to its columns, at first anonvmouslv, but later 
in his own person. It is related that while he was 
still a compositor at the case, he controverted a 
position assumed by a leading politician of the 
State in the columns of the Ohio State Journal with 
so much strength and clearness that his opponent 
inquired in astonishment who had written the 
article, supposing it to have been done by some old 
and experienced writer. At this period of his life, 
while earning his daily bread, he was laboriously 
engaged in his self-education. The State library 
was his field and he labored in it constantly, and 
over a wide diversity of subjects. In the congenial 
circle of friends attracted to him at that time were 
several who have since attained distinction in liter- 
ature, in the pulpit and in the business world. 
While zealously and constantly pursuing his studies, 
he continued to write for publication, and made 
advancement towards distinction and reputation. 
He had studied law and had been admitted to the 
bar when the signs of the approaching civil outbreak 
gave warning that service and sacrifice would soon 

—17— 



be required of every good citizen. That he might 
be fitted to do tlie best service in tlie new field 
upon which he saw himself about to enter, he 
studied military science and tactics with assiduity 
and laid the groundwork by which his later exper- 
ience in the field ripened him into an accomplished 
and thorough soldier. The love and honor borne 
towards him all through his life by those who were 
his comrades during the four years of the war are a 
testimony to the high qualities of his courage and 
soldierly ability. It was after the close of the war 
and after being mustered out with a brevet rank of 
brigadier-general that he renewed the practice of 
the law for a time, and finally gave himself entirely 
to his chosen profession of journalism. It was by 
his uninterrupted labors in this field that he made 
himself known to the world as a warm-hearted, 
sympathetic and lovable man. 

In the great volume of routine writing which 
fell to his lot as a conductor of a daily newspaper, 
there is of course much that is ephemeral. Some, 
even, that was a force in his success as a journalist, 
was of temporary interest and value. But there 
could be gleaned from the whole mass a volume of 
many pages of pure literature and permanent 
worth. His paragraphs especially contributed to 
his success and popularity. Many of these, pungent 
with wit, brilliant with polish, symmetrical and 
clear-cut and infused, generally, with a rollicking 
humor, are epigrams of abstract value which Vv^ill 
stand. 

As an instance of the widespread influence of 
his journalistic work, the following is an example : 
While he was Minister Resident of the United States 



—18— 



at Honolulu, a naval officer whose casual acquaint- 
ance he made, said : "General, when I first 
read this letter I never expected to make your 
acquaintance. " He referred to a newspaper clip- 
ping which he toolv from his pocket-book, and 
which had come to his eye in reading a newspaper 
in China. It was a letter written by General Comly 
and published some time before in the United 
States. 

He had always a certain reserve and dignity 
which have been mistaken by those who knew him 
but little for haughtiness. This was the result, 
rather, of an innate modesty, which was one of the 
most distinguishing traits of his character and 
which withheld him always from self-assertion, even 
to the extent of injustice to himself. He was not 
always ready of speech and it was only in the 
presence of full sympathy and intimacy that the 
warmth and depth of geniality of his nature fully 
manifested themselves. In such contact he disclosed 
himself a hearty believer and truster in the goodness 
of human nature, widely tolerant of errors and of 
opposing beliefs, and a sympathetic and ready 
helper for all trouble and misfortune. His sympathy 
and generous interest were a factor in the success 
of many lives. As a young man he was a trusted 
guide and helper to older heads, and as he himself 
grew older there grew up a bond between himself 
and a large following of younger men, always sure 
of sympathy and encouragement at his hands. 

Tlie full exercise of his qualities of generosity 
and unaffected self-sacrifice were limited only by 
the propriety and custom which restrict them to a 
degree witliin certain bounds of intimate associa- 

—19— 



tion, family ties or friendship. To this extent, he 
was honored by his associates for his unselfishness 
and integrity, and beloved by his friends for the 
warmth of his own frankly expressed regard and the 
helpfulness of his spirit. But it was given only to 
his own immediate family to look into the depth of 
his generous heart, to know the full measure of his 
unselfishness and to be infused with the reliance 
and trustfulness of his confiding soul. His faith 
and religion were withheld from the gaze of most, 
but they were deep and true. 

He was widely beloved, but the qualities which 
made him so were shown in their full perfection 
only to those who knew him as a tender and solici- 
tous father and an unselfish and devoted husband. 

Gr. S. C 




—20— 



ADDRESS BY 

EX-PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 

At the Reunion of the Army of West Virginia, at Wheeling. 



Comrades of the Army of West Virginia : 

CINCE we last met. a year ago, many of our com- 
^ rades have gone to their reward. I do not under- 
take, even in the briefest way, to give sketches of 
the lives of our recent dead, or to make a catalogue 
of their names. Each had his own separate history 
and was the center of a circle which now mourns 
his loss. Our army reunions derive their chief 
interest from the opportunity they afford for the 
renewal of the social and friendly relations which 
grew up between comrades during the years of the 
war. But we have long since learned that as time 
passes our gladdest and heartiest greetings are more 
and more often tinged with sadness as the line of 
"the dead already" grows longer and longer. I 
therefore know full well, my comrades, that you will 
allow me to pause a moment on the threshold of 
this delightful reunion to lay a wreath on the bier 
of one who was widelv known and loved as a shin- 
ing and inspiring example of the typical American 
volunteer soldier. 

General James Monroe Comly was identified, 
from the beginning to the end of the war, witli the 
Army of West Virginia. His whole service was in 
"the old Kanawha Division." During almost three 

—21— 



years he commanded as lieutenant-colonel and 
colonel of one of the very conspicuous and fortunate 
regiments of the war— the Twenty -Third Ohio infan- 
try. He died less than a month ago, July 26, at his 
home in Toledo, Ohio, with all the members of his 
family — his wife, his two sons and his daughter— at 
his bedside, and in a city filled witli his admirers, 
friends and comrades. 

Knowing General Comly intimately more than 
twenty -five years, and especially having lived by his 
side, day and night, during almost the whole of the 
war, it would be strange, indeed, if I did not deem 
it a privilege and a labor of love to unite with his 
comrades in strewing flowers on the grave of one 
whose talents and achievements were so ample and 
so admirable, and whose life and character were 
rounded to a completeness rarely found among the 
best and most gifted of m.en. 

General Comly 's profession was journalism. He 
was. fond of it and proud of it. He had full 
faith in it. He believed that there was no other 
walk of peaceful life in which he could render such 
useful and honorable service to the world. In his 
judgment and heart, work on his newspai^er was 
second only in opportunity and worth to life on the 
battle-field in the service of his country. During a 
large part of his years of activity he Vsras the editor 
of a political daily newspaper and gave to it the full 
measure of his intellectual powers. How well he 
was equipped for this work ! He was, in the best 
sense of the word, a scholar. Good books were his 
intimate friends. He knew thoroughly our country's 
history. He was master of pure, wholesome English. 
His wit made him famous. Halstead, speaking of 

—22— 



him, ?5aid. "His paragraphs and epithets are as 
sharp as a razor, and they stick like a fish hook." 
This dangerous faculty — often fatal to friendship — 
was in his case so controlled by the unerring 
instincts of the gentleman, and tempered by his 
sincerity, large heartedness and manliness that he 
constantly won the esteem and good will of his 
adversaries. Perhaps the fittest eulogium one can 
pronounce on our beloved comrade is to quote a few 
of the tributes to his character by his brethren, 
some of them opponents and rivals in the profession 
of his choice. Remember as I read them that Gen- 
eral Comly was engaged sharj)ly, and with a bold 
and combative spirit, in all the partisan conflicts of 
his time. What a noble and lovable nature he had 
to be able to leave on friends and foes alike such an 
impression as these sentences express ! 

I quote from the Cincinnati Enquirer : 

"In the death of Gen. James M. Gomlv, editor 
and proprietor of the Toledo Commercial, Ohio has 
lost another of her illustrious sons. The General's 
war record was that of a brave and honorable 
soldier, beloved by his men. As a servant of the 
public, he filled the various offices he was appointed 
to with honor and credit, while, as a journalist, he 
was recognized as one of the brightest and cleverest 
in the State." 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer said : 

"During the rebellion he served in the army with 
bravery and fidelity. After the war he assumed the 
editorship of the Colum})us Journal and became 
widely known for his short, witty editorial para- 
graphs. For several years we crossed pens with 

—23— 



General Comly upon public questions and had som e 
sharp controversies with him, but never of a per- 
sonal nature, and in our frequent meetings the 
'shop' was dropped and our relations were of a 
pleasant character. He was of a kindly and gener- 
ous disposition, and while a strict partisan, would 
never do any injustice to a political foe." 

Mr. Henry T. Niles, of Toledo, politically 
opposed to General Comly, but a personal friend, 
says: "He was recognized by all as a true man, a 
good and valuable citizen, and an earnest and in- 
telligent worker for the good and prosperity of this 
city of his adoption. 

" General Comly was a strong partisan, and in his 
party warfare his weapons were well tempered steel 
wielded by a strong arm and with well aimed blows, 
yet no tinge of party bitterness follows him to the 
grave. 

" Why 'i Because while having strong and honest 
convictions himself, he recognized the fact that 
others with equally strong and honest convictions 
might differ from liim, and while a partisan he 
remained a gentleman. 

" General Comly has been connected with the pub- 
lic press almost from boyhood, and has always lived 
in the public eye. and yet the sharpest eye has 
never detected spot or blemish, and no man more 
thoroughly possessed the confidence and respect 
of all." 

Col. Donn Piatt writes : 

"Such a combination as he possessed of gentle- 
ness and courage, wisdom and toleration, I never 
before encountered. With all his perfect manhood, 

—24— 



that kept his life upon a higher plane of duty, he 
was yet so lovable, that we less perfect lost the sense 
of the rebuke of his purer life, in the affections his 
generous nature engendered.''' 

His political friends in the profession dwelt 
lovingly on his noble traits of character. 

The Bucyrus Journal says : 

''But bright as his professional talents, his mili- 
tary record, and his official services were, they were 
as nothing beside his character as a man. Genial, 
charitable in his judgments, kindly disposed to all, 
an invaluable friend, a generous adversary, a manly 
man with a womanly grace and tenderness, he was 
pre-eminently a lovable Christian gentleman. In 
his death, at his prime, only 56 years old, the press 
of the State loses its brightest ornament and many of 
its members an admired, profoundly respected, and 
invaluable friend.'' 

Comrade McElroy, of the National Tribune, says : 
"He had in a high degree all the good qualities 
of our race. Brilliant in intellect, brave of soul, 
true of heart, loyal, unselfish and steadfast, he was 
a man whom all that knew him admired as well as 
loved. His was a character unusually well rounded. 
Wliere many men seem only at their best when 
viewed from certain standpoints, he seemed at his 
best from whatever point he was viewed. He was a 
brilliant journalist, a thorough soldier, a competent 
business man, a successful diplomat, and a devoted 
husband and father." 

The Toledo Blade says : 

"General Comly's reputation is by no means a 
purely local one. For more than a quarter of a 

-25— 



century lie lias taken a prominent position in the 
State and country. First as a brave soldier, winning 
laurels upon the battle-field, and later as a fearless 
journalist, who not only had a keen understanding 
of the questions of the hour, but always expressed 
his convictions boldly, and maintained them in the 
face of any or all opposers. As a diplomat during 
the time he represented this country in Honolulu he 
won marked distinction and was officially compli- 
mented for the ability which he displayed. 

"Yet it was in his chosen profession of journal- 
ism that he made his greatest and most lasting 
reputation, and during his connection with the Ohio 
State Journal, of which he was at the head for 
many years. During that period after the war, 
which was one of opportunities in which talent 
and energy guiding the pen made marked impres- 
sion, he succeeded in maintaining the standing of 
loyalty and patriotism that had been established by 
his conduct as a soldier. His mistakes were rare, 
but when he made them, he stood by the conse- 
quences manfully. 

"Of his public career no more need be said. 
Elsewhere the details are given in full. Of his 
private life, its beauty and integrity, much might be 
written. He was a gentleman of the old school, 
loyal in his friendships, outspoken and open in his 
enmities, but always and everywhere a gentleman. 
His brilliant social qualities were tempered by a 
shrinking reserve that carried with it, to those who 
did not know him well, a suggestion of haughtiness, 
but no man was further from aught of that kind. 

"He has gone — a man able, honest, gallant, gen- 
erous and true, the loving husband and father, the 

—26— 



useful citizen, gone in the prime of his manhood, 
but leaving an unfading memory behind him of 
honorable, upright living, that will rest as a benison 
npon those who so sadly mourn his departure." 

The following dispatch to Mrs. Comly — one out 
of a large nnmber from men of every honorable walk 
in life — is selected because it calls significantly to 
mind the sterling gold in General Comly's char- 
acter : 

Detroit, Mich., July 27, 1887. 

"Mes. Gen. Comly : Your bereavement is shared 
by every one who ever worked for General Comly. 
He possessed the rare quality of being at once em- 
ployer and friend." 

Those of us who saw him in many a trying 
scene, when he was tested by weariness and sick- 
ness, by discouragement and defeat, by responsi- 
bility and deadly peril ; who knew him as men know 
each other who for years have been comrades in war, 
do not need to be told of his merits as a soldier. His 
comrades of the Army of West Virginia remember 
him at Antietam when he strengthened the weak- 
ened line by seizing the flag, which had fallen to 
the earth from the hands of the dying color bearer, 
and holding it ''still full higli advanced" against 
the exulting columns that vainly tried to capture it 
and pull it down. We recall him in the very pinch 
of Sheridan's victory of Winchester gallantly leading 
his regiment across the sangninary slough that pro- 
tected the left of Earlvs armv. We know how he 
loved his regiment ; how proud he was of " the old 
Kanawha Division ;" and with what satisfaction he 
wore the badge of the Army of West Virginia. 
With many of us. General Comly will alw^ays be a 



brilliant and conspicuous figure in the most precious 
recollections of the most interesting period of our 
lives. 

As he drew near the end, we rejoice to know 
that ''Nothing in his life became him like the leav- 
ing it." Calmly, bravely, and with an unfaltering 
trust he approached and met the great change. His 
last sickness was long and full of suffering. But 
his courage, cheerfulness and sweetness of temjjer 
never for a moment failed. He was accustomed to 
dwell on the deepest questions that arise in sober 
minds near the close of life. 

Speaking of human suffering to a friend he 
said : 

"I think bodily suffering, to the thoughtful per- 
son, is not an unmixed evil. It broadens and 
deepens our sympathies, makes us more charitable, 
and strengthens every better element of our nature. 
We may come out of such suffering stronger and 
better if we take the right view of things and 
regard these afflictions as the 'chastening rod.'" 

Touching his faith as to the future, he wrote : 

"Atheism leaves no hope. All is evil, and evil 
continually — evil eternally. It leaves no hereafter, 
where all things may be made even. It abandons 
reason as well as hope. 

"Reason teaches us that the whole universe is 
subject to law ; that there can be no law without a 
supreme power ordaining it. And faith teaches us 
that this supreme power must be infinite in intelli- 
gence, goodness and truth. It cannot create merely 
to destroy. It cannot inflict pain and suffering and 
death in sheer wantonness of power. Every birtli 
is consummated with pain and agony — every birth is 

—28— 



a severance of the ties of life — which bind to a 
former state of existence, and the letting go is abhor- 
rent to the law of being. Yet the new birth is a 
resurrection into a higher form of life. Death is 
birth — death can only be a resurrection into a new 
life, higher, better and more glorious. " 

Note.— The above eulogy was also pronounced at the annual reunion' of the Twenty- 
Third Regiment, O. V. I., at Lakeside, Ohio. 




-2»— 



\ 



SELECTIONS FROM GENERAL COMLY'S WRITINGS. 



A NIGHT IN A SLEEPING CAR. 

[From a Letter from Cincinnati to the Toledo Commercial.! 

DID you ever notice what a variety of notes the 
snorers have in a sleeping car ? If you cannot 
sleep, and will but seek amusement instead of discom- 
fort, you will find an analysis of this tone language 
very entertaining. It has more variations of time, 
tone, melody and harmony than a sonata or symphony. 
I amused myself very satisfactorily in taking to 
pieces and individualizing the discordant harmonies 
which issued from the noses of our unconscious 
fellow- travelers, during some of the stops when the 
noise of the train ceased, and the pattering staccato 
of the rain accompanied, without drowning, the 
nasal chorus. 

An upper berth j)assenger, who must have been 
a person of spare habit, with a high, sharp nose, 
gave whistling and cheerful little cricket-on-the- 
hearth notes like "peep! peep! peep." From the 
under berth, and a more expansive and belligerent 
organ, came a vicious, syncopated, slow accompani- 
ment of "snork! snork! snork!" A deep, mellow, 
long drawn " whoome ! whoome ! whoome ! " from the 
next section, harmonized and consolidated the peep 
and the snork, and was in turn punctuated in the 
upper berth, by a nervous and quick "ex-ij-jy! 
ex-ij-jy ! ex-ij-jy!" repeated with pertinacious 

—30— 



and disconcerting energy. Somewhere near, and 
combining with these, came a laborious, long drawn, 
struggling, forcepump note, (calculated to awaken 
the liveliest apprehensions of premature suffocation, 
like " um-mee-ee-ze ! um-mee-ee-ze ! " indefinitely re- 
peated, mingled with obligato passages of fugitive 
clutching after the departing breath, still further 
vivified to the horrified sense of the listener by 
another performer in the nasal overture, who at 
frequent intervals interjected despairing catches of 
" spip-pip-pip-um-m-m-mop-bzzzzh !" interspersed with 
" sfit-sfit-sfit — boom, boom, — peeze ! peeze ! scatter- 
wliuchy ! " At a longer pause than usual — probably 
at Dayton, as I heard them testing the car wheels — 
the cessation of all ordinary motion, and the substi- 
tution of the pounding of the wheels, seemed to 
awaken the desire for original and startling effects 
among the orchestra. Among the more feeble 
efforts of the performers already mentioned, there 
arose the mighty diapason of a snorer, of the largest 
tonnage and bottom, whom I had seen (not without 
apprehension) stored in an upper berth, through 
the united exertions of himself, the conductor and 
the porter, with the assistance of a stepladcler, 
which creaked and trembled under the burden. I 
had been listening in an excited state for the note 
of that thundering pedal bass, and now it burst 
forth in all its grandeur, scattering the elements 
and silencing the whole orchestra, as if a Javan 
earthquake had lit among them. The upheaval was 
beyond the power of language or letters, but this 
may give some faint idea of the event : " Whoome ! 
um-mee-ee-eeze ! Osh-osh-osh-kosh-kosh ! tubble-gub- 
ble-gubble ! rip ! snip-pip ! sxysbss — snork !" 

—31— 



I have read somewhere, lately, an ingenious 
story, professing to be the yarn of an American sailor 
in Chinese waters, describing altogether the most 
novel and effective catastrophe I have ever read in 
fiction. There was a ship^nate of the relator— who is, 
of course, a mysterious personage, but avows himself 
darkly as a late manipulator of dynamite in the Oil 
region of Pennsylvania, when the skipper is at his 
wit's end how to shift a lot of dynamite on board, 
without blowing up the whole Pacific Ocean. The ship 
having arrived at a Chinese port in safety, finds the 
whole poj)ulation celebrating some national holiday, 
which I have no hesitation in naming the " Konohee" 
or Chinese New Year, which lasts from three to five 
days. Without going into all the thrilling details 
of this veracious story, it is sufficient for my present 
purpose to say that one day during the " Konohee," 
when the dynamiter and the relator had "ship's 
liberty " on shore the relator and tens of thousands 
of " pig tails " saw to their most exquisite horror, on 
the tip-top of the high porcelain tower for which 
the Chinese city is famous, the reckless dynamite 
sailor, standing on his head and executing other 
blood-curdling flipflaps, taking between times long 
draughts from a black bottle of Kentucky bourbon. 
Suddenly he takes up a can, wlii(;h he had stolen 
from the ship, and drinks a quart or so of nitro- 
glycerine, and hurls the can down among the 
shrieking multitude ; then empties his black bottle 
of Kentucky Bourbon, and hurls it down ; then hurls 
himself down, from the dizzy height, and as his 
body strikes, the dynamite explodes, and scatters his 
remains all over the Chinese Empire. 

This narrative is the only thing I know of, in 

—32— 



literary remains, that can adequately illustrate the 
effects of the final " snork" of that colossal snorer. 

— And after that the only sound that teased 
the ear of the traveler was the " tee-tucka ! tee- 
tucka !" of the wheels, and the cheerful drizzle of 
the rain, which meant to show Cincinnati that 1884 
could give 1883 odds, and beat her in the game. 



MAN AND HIS DRINK. 

[A lA'tter from Put-in-Bay to the Ohio State Journal.] 

Put-in-Bay, July 27, 1874. 

Men and hyenas are the only animals who 
laugh. This fact is considered very important, I 
believe, by the anti -Darwinians. Men and croco- 
diles are also the only animals who slied tears. 
Moved by the spirit of ])hilosophical research, I 
desire to suggest that man is also the only animal 
who drinks Catawba cobblers. Until Mr. Darwin 
[)r()ves that the ancestral monkey was addicted to 
mixed drinks, lie cannot make ont a clear case of 
development of the human s})ecies. Catawba cob- 
blers are to be counted among the peculiar charac- 
teristics of mankind. So long as the livena lauolis 
and the crocodile sheds tears. I do not see how we 
ai*e to avoid the conclusion that cocktails are even 
a more distiuctly human attribute than laughing or 
weeping, for it is an attribute shared by no other 
animal. If I have unconsciously stumbled upon a 
great anthropological fact here, it is most cheerfully 
placed at Mr. Darwin's service for his next book. 

The fact is, no one can stay here long without 

—3.'?— 



seeing that man is a bibulous animal. There is a 
patriotic disposition on the part of most to try the 
native products of Ohio, on coming here for the first 
time. The elation of these patriots for the first day 
or so is a glorious tribute to our noble State ; their 
bowel complaints for the next day or so are a tribute, 
equally glorious, to the medical staff on the Island. 
Not that these native wines are any more harmful 
in moderation than cider or moderately vigorous 
beer or ale ; but. like any other change of diet, they 
demand progressive, instead of violent revolutionary 
measures. (The sisters would make a great mistake 
to suppose that I am speaking from experience, 
instead of observation. I Imve not tasted native 
wine since my arrival here. It is a very reprehensi- 
ble practice to drink native wine — particularly when 
one can get good lager beer or Heiinesey brandy), I 
would advise all persons coming to the Island to 
drink as little of the native wines (or any tiling 
else) as possible, between meals. A little wine at 
table is all any one can take profitably. There is a 
very nice red wine (Va. Seedling) for fish, and still 
or sj^arkling Catawba for meats. Better still, there 
are coffee, cold tea and milk, or the best of ice water. 
Or, there are the heavier English table drinks, of 
porter (stout), beer, ale. and the like, which are 
easier to digestion here than where there are fewer 
cool breezes. 

The American habit is to drink between meals, 
for stimulant effect. The only rational way of using 
wines, beer, ale, porter, or other beverages, is to use 
them at meal time. If one's digestion is perfect, his 
nerves steel and his muscles iron, my own private 
opinion is that he is foolish to "' drink " at any time. 



—34— 



He needs wine as little as he does iron, quinine, or 
any other tonic. The misery is that youngsters 
whose digestion is all-powerful and all-consuming 
will swill all kinds of intoxicating stuffs, for the 
excitement solely. They come here and addle their 
small brains witli di'iiik. and then come reeling to 
bed in the small liours, making shameful exhibitions 
of the vulgarity and beastly animal nature which 
tliey might liave concealed if they had remained 
sober. No such man can be a true gentleman, but 
he need not be so arduously vulgar and so deter- 
minedly ungentlemanly without the inspiration of 
drink. Under any circumstances he will smoke in 
a lady's face, splotch her dress with filthy saliva, 
swear at the waiters, and bully all weak things. 
But, unrestrained by drink, his common training 
would prevent him yelling along the corridors at 
night, frightening all the women, wakening all the 
cliildren, and generally revealing his natural coarse- 
ness and vulgarity, without any covering. 

I don't mean the merry fellows, who are never 
more courteous gentlemen than when wine has 
stolen their brains. But there is an animal that 
seems to pervade all watering places and other 
leisurely assemblages, which confounds noise with 
fun, and mistakes mere destructiveness for the 
highest human enjoyment. Given two or three 
such animals, with all the animal instincts stimu- 
lated, and the quotient will be, brutish howls, 
broken furniture, and midnight made hideous. The 
same animals if not already so. will bo in after years 
street brawlers, Avife beaters, everything that the 
instinct of destructiveness can make of them. 
There are tender hearted creatures that cannot dis- 



—35— 



tinguisli between the noisy merry fellow and the 
howling animal I have described. They mistake 
the animal for the other fellow; they cover the 
marks of his brute claws, and smother the howls of 
his brute voice, and hope that both are mere follies 
of youth. Fond mothers and sisters do this, hoping 
against hope. Fonder somebody-else's sisters do this, 
because their hearts lead them so to do ; and they 
would cover the animal up in their soft bosoms and 
smile while their hearts were eaten out by it. 

For the young animal is often of a lithe and 
graceful form — as all the most treacherous and per- 
fidious animals are. And what woman could ever 
resist youthful grace and beauty, even knowing 
claws to be concealed under the velvet? They take 
the animal to their bosoms in the kitten age, not 
knowing what a great, vulgar, coarse-grained brute 
it will grow up, or what impurities it will void upon 
them in after years. 

So the dear Ingenua. who is guileless and 
unsuspecting as Little Red liiding-hood, goes 
through the forest of life, meeting many ravening 
wolves, and not knowing them to be wolves. To 
drop the figure, my dear Ingenua, you will find one 
of these men with animal natures, au fait in all the 
little nameless gallantries of social life, and with a 
spice of badness which your woman's nature will 
long to take out of him by means of that minstrelsy 
which 

took up the harp of Life and smote on all the chords with might; 



Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed in music out of sight. 

— But dear girl, such minstrelsy will fall as dead on 
his meaty, sensual ears, as the music of OrjDheus at 
a pumpkin show. In such cases it is the minstrel 



-36— 



who is destroyed — the siren voice charms its own 
destruction. Distrust any man who is unkind or 
ungentle to any weak thing of all God's creatures. 
Lean with the utter abandon of perfect trust upon 
the loyal nature that scorns subterfuge and chicane 
— scorns to do anything unworthy its own highest 
respect. There is hope in the darkest hour for the 
man who Avould no more lie than he would commit 
murder. He may be a poor, battered, shapeless 
liulk: a mere wreck, with all gone except this; 
if lie has motive power enough to drift a log, 
and has this compass of truth, there is hope for 
him. 

— Excuse me. dear girl, if I bore you with my 
prosing, after the manner of oldsters, 1 cannot 
make you see the mise en scene, on which the figures 
are passing before the mind's eye as I speak — the 
figures of a tragedy more thrilling than any cun- 
ningly devised fable of art, where a soul went 
down. The painters in this scene have done theii- 
work with supernatural accuracy ; the scene shifters 
work like shuddering ghosts, moving and recon- 
structing as noiselessly as dissolving views. There 
is nothing in earth, air or water to equal the 
startling nature of all the movements and effects. 
While it is thrilling me Avith horrible .realism. I am 
prosing to you of its morals, and you see nothing of 
the scenery. It is all very tame and spiritless, and 
you are sighing to get away to your ball-i'oom 
mutton. The music is playing — the Blue Danube — 
and you like waltzing. Good night, my deai- girl. 
May you never see such a picture even in imagina- 
tion. 



—37— 



IMPERSONALITY IN JOURNALISM. 

[From the Mt. Venidii Banner. May lU. 1878.| 

Legation of the United States, | 
Honolulu, 12th April, 1878. ) 

My Dear Mr. Harper: 

In thinking over old friencis to-night, I am 
moved to drop yon a line, hoping to provoke yon 
into writing to me. I have an ever present reminder 
of yon, in the beantifnl cane presented by yon on 
behalf of the Ohio Editorial Association. It is one 
of my most valued possessions and it occnpies a con- 
spicnons place in the legation. There is nothing in 
the way of honor and position that I covet so mnch 
as a good place in the regard of my confreres on 
the Ohio press. Yon will enter into my feelings 
wdien I tell yon that I hope a short sojonrn here 
may entirely restore my health, and permit me to 
retnrn to many years of gratefnl service on that 
press. And I am more and more snre, the longer I 
live and the more I am withdrawn from the imme- 
diate inflnence of ''the slings and arrows of ont- 
rageons" personalities in political jonrnalism, that 
the highest type of jonrnalism implies total abnega- 
tion of persoiml feeling and total absence of per- 
sonal bickering, and absolnte devotion to impartial 
trnth, so far as it lies in hnman natnre to be impar- 
tial and truthfnl. Snrely I may have as high a 
respect and regard for my political opponent, who 
devotes himself to the right as God gives liim to see 
the right, as I may have for my political co-worker ; 
who can do more than this ? We are all eqnally 
interested — selfishly interested, if you will — in doing 
what lies in onr power for the good of onr country 

—38— 



and of mankind. How small a matter is any one 
man's personal failings and shortcomings, by compari- 
son with snr-h interests as these i I know you must 
sympathize with these aspirations, and 1 hope to 
join with yon hereafter in working for their realiza- 
tion. 

Please let me hear from yon. in a friendly, 
sociable way — and don't fear to discnss current 
political topics. For although I am prohibited from 
writing on such topics, I am not prohibited from 
I'eading the letters of friends, on either side. 

With most cordial regard. I am. 

Yovrrs faithfully, 

James M. Comly. 



NOT A GOOD CANDIDATE. 



Kroni tile' Hiii-yrus .Idiininl, November, l!S!S:i. 



Park Hotel. Columbus, } 
November 17th, 1882. ) 

^fy Dear Hopley : 

I have been so busy ever since my return from 
the Northwest that I have not been able sooner to 
acknowledge the kindness you have shown, in your 
mention of candidates for Governor. I would rather 
have such nice things said of me than be Governor. 
Not that I underrate the Governorship — it is a 
grand thing to be worthy and Governor of the great 
State of Ohio. But 1 would not make a good candi- 
date. * * J (^ould not dodge and sneak, 
like a Piute on the war-path, to keep people from 
knowing how I stood on this or that ; I should have 
to go it like the sinner in the Psalm : " Just as I 



am, without one," etc. Now yoii will see, I could 
not go a week in the canvas this way, without being 
called a drunkard, a thief and a hoary-headed old 
assassin, who had lived most of the time on offices 
which were the reward of slanders heaped upon the 
holiest and purest men of the Democratic party. 
Then I would wish that I had never fallen so low as 
to be a candidate. 

All the same, I thank you and the other kindest 
and best of friends who have said such comforting 
things. It would take a thousand years to hold all 
the good I feel over it. 

Yours faithfully, 

James M. Comly. 



PRINTED POISON. 

fTln^ Tok'ilo Telffiratii and Coinnu'rcial. May Kith, isss ] 

Mothers of Toledo! Do you know what your 
boys are reading^ 

Manv of you do. Perhai)s most. There are 
homes made so pleasant to tlie boys that they do not 
care to wander away at night, seeking questionable 
amusements to fill the void left in their minds by 
uncongenial homes. Many a home has its refined 
circle, beyond which no member wishes to stray — 
where the evenings are filled with reading, music. 
study, and some refined amusement. Others leave 
their boys to struggle through their lessons in blank 
discouragement, and amuse each other with discon- 
tented teasing and quarreling after. Others again, 
many of them, don't know what becomes of the boys. 
They are street runners, gadabouts, drifting along 

—40— 



with the scum or sediment of the human stream — 
deposited in the slums or washed up with the drift- 
wood and foam. 

There are many boys with as good natural 
points and tendencies as many others of whom great 
statesmen, divines, lawyers, physicians, and what 
not have been made in the past, who have gone 
down to worse than death in this turbid stream, for 
want of a helping hand to drag them forth and save 
them. 

Are you shocked to have your boy take a glass 
of wine or beer? There is a certain amount of temp- 
tation in this, certainly — more especially if the boy 
has been taught that this is a sin of the same mag- 
nitude as the worst of crimes, and if he indulges in 
it as one of the stolen sweets, or forbidden pleasures. 
But it is not so much that which goes into the body, 
as tliat which goes into or comes out of the mind, 
that destroys. What does your boy take into his 
mind ? 

Every healthy, high spirited boy craves a cer- 
tain amount of romance and daring. You might as 
well expect to bring your boy up on bran bread and 
water, and never satisfy his natural craving for 
nutritious food and sweets, as hope to bring him 
up on dry ''solid'' reading alone, and never satisfy 
his longing for tales of adventure and chivalry. 
The old boys had Froissart's Chronicles, Scott's 
novels, Cooper's romances of wild Indian or ocean 
adventure. They wlietted their chivalric tastes and 
longings on these — and there are few who will say 
that the race deteriorated under such training. 
There are plenty of modern boys' books to take the 
place of these or supplement them; tales of hunting, 

—11— 



exploring, travel and adventure, without number. 
There are others that destroy soul and body. Tales 
that make vice attractive and crime heroic. Tales 
of highwaymen and wantons, harlots and thieves, 
that give no hint of the greedy selfishness and bald 
misery of a life of crime, but clothe it with the 
alluring graces of chivalry and heroic adventure. 

There are scores of places in Toledo, as may be 
seen by any one who will take the trouble to look at 
the ostentatious display in the shop windows, where 
so called '' literature" by the ton may be seen, with 
artistic pictorial embellishments, the very sight of 
which would bring a blush of shame to the cheek 
of any pure minded boy — -or man. There are cart 
loads of publications that no self respecting person 
would have in his possession openly, any more than 
he would be seen on a public street arm-in-arm with 
a harlot or a thief. 

Who reads these publications? How many 
readers are there for those other scarcely less vile 
publications, where vice is served up with hot sea- 
soning, and crime is garnished with attractive sauce, 
to both provoke and destroy the natural appetite of 
the young for pure heroism and chivalry? 

One can scarcely go into a street car without 
seeing some boy whose intellectual craving deserves 
better food, ducking down in one corner in absorbed 
perusal of some phallic tale of morbid love, some 
record of crime, some illustrated (and finely illus- 
trated) "newspaper. " filled with lascivious and sug- 
gestive pictures, and even more scandalous letter 
press. One can scarcely pass a seat in any of our 
small parks, or any lumber yard, or any sugar 
hogshead lying lazily in the sun, without seeing 

-42— 



boys stretched out reading cheaply covered books 
whose contents would be an unknoAvn world to 
those who read this article. 

It is the nature of boys to show such books to 
each other. What sort of companions does your 
boy have, on the street or at school i What do they 
read — what is he reading? 



A FAREWELL HOPE. 

New York Daily Tribune, Thursday, October 4, 1877. 

Minister Comly wrote to some of the friends he 
left behind him, saying how much he was touched 
by the proposal to give him a farewell banquet. 
''In going away from Columbus,'' he writes, ''for 
what I hope may be only a short time, I earnestly 
desire to leave no unpleasant or unfriendly feeling 
behind, on the pavt of any honorable man. If I 
have ever written an unkind or malevolent word, 
let that word be blotted out." 



LETTER RETURNING THE REGIMENTAL COLORS. 

Letter From Lieutenant-Colonel Comly. 

The following brief, but explicit and expressive 
letter, which is characteristic of its author, accom- 
panied the return of the colors : 

Headquarters 23d Ohio Vol's, \ 
Camp near Staunton, Va., June 9, 1864. j 

Brig.-Qeneral B. R. Cowen, Adjutant Ocneral of Ohio: 

Sir : The original term of enlistment of this 
regiment being about to expire, — June 11th — and 



men who have not re-enlisted having been ordered 
to Ohio to be mustered out, I forward the colors of 
the regiment for deposit, they being no longer in 
condition for field service. On behalf of the regi- 
ment I commit them to your charge. They have 
always been well to the front in battle, and are 
entitled to consideration. I have the honor to be, 
very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

J. M. COMLY, 

Lieut.-Col. Commanding. 



GENERAL COWEn's EEPLY. 



To the above what may not inappropriately 
be termed, considering the history of the colors, 
exceedingly modest communication, the Adjutant 
General has sent the following reply : 

General Headquarters, State of Ohio. 
Adjutant General's Office, Columbus, June 30th, 1864. 

Lieut.-Colonel J. M. Comly, Commanding 23d Ohio regiment. 

Colonel: It affords me much pleasure to 
acknowledge the receipt to-day of your letter of the 
9tli inst., transmitting the colors of the 23d Ohio 
regiment. These colors, marred by traitors, and 
torn by the storm of the fierce conflict in which you 
have been engaged, are far more beautiful to-day, 
than when three years ago you first bore them to 
the field. Beneath their folds your brave men have 
dealt sturdy blows against the rebellion, and many 
brave and generous hearts have been hushed in 
death. You may well say "they have always been 



well to the front in battle," for the magnificent 
bayonet charge by the 23d at the battle of 'South 
Mountain is a matter of history, and will be looked 
on as one of the most brilliant episodes of the war. 
Through all your long and weary marches and 
scouts, in the very front, where bullets fell thickest, 
there were to be seen those hallowed colors, and no 
rebel hand was ever suffered to profane them with 
unholy touch. 

For more than two years it has been my good 
fortune to be associated with the gallant Twenty- 
Third, and I esteem it one of the pleasantest recol- 
lections of the changing scenes of the war, that I 
have been well acquainted with so brave and noble 
a set of men. 

God bless you, Colonel, one and all, and may 
you all safely return to your homes, to enjoy the 
plaudits of a grateful people. I am, Colonel, very 
respectfully, your obedient servant, 

B. R. CowEJs^, 

Adjutant-General of Ohio. 



SUFFRAGE AND EDUCATION. 

Suffrage is a living stream that purifies all foul 
waters. They stagnate and become deadly only 
when dammed up and hedged in by prohibition and 
privilege. I have no fear that men will not be ele- 
vated in their aims and aspirations in proportion as 
they are free. Enlarge a man's possibilities, and 
his achievements will correspond in ratio. Give all 
citizens the ballot and all citizens will endeavor to 

—15— 



show themselves worthy of it, by educating them- 
selves properly. It is a great accession to the per- 
sonal pride and dignity and importance — the right 
of suffrage. Give a man the right to vote and he 
immediately sets about finding out how to vote, and 
that is the first thing in a liberal education. 



A SUMMER DAY. 

(Extract from a Letter from Honolulu, February, 1878.) 

Did you ever walk along a meadow stream in 
June, with the shiners flashing back the summer sun 
— just warm enough — not hot, but about as warm, 
(say) as the New Jerusalem — walk along and catch 
here a whiff of violets, there a breath of milky fra- 
grance from the ruminating cattle, then a swell of 
delirious rapture from the throat of some mocking 
bird, answered by a clear alert ''Bob White" from 
the wheatfield near by — did you ever walk along so, 
watching the summer clouds drift lazily into every 
ravishing beauty of form or color possible to conceive, 
and bless the day to yourself with a sort of blissful 
awe, as if God was walking in the fields ? 



—It)— 



RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR. 



If all the Heavens were rolled together as a scroll, 

And all the earth were sunless, starless, desolate and void, 

With empty waters poured around a dreary waste of land. 

Whose vacant, bare, primeval rocks threw back 

Upon the desert atmosphere no sound. 

Save dismal, lonely moanings from the solemn sea, — 

Yet, would earth, atmosphere and sea. 

Prove by the solid rocks and winds and waves 

There must be God. 

II. 

Whence came this Earth, this atmosphere and sea? 
By natural law? Whence came the law? 
Where there is natural law, there must be God. 
How can there be a law without a Power Supreme 
Ordaining it? Is law a thing of chance? 
Then is it no law, but imbecile unguided drifting, 
Hither, thither, and yon. 

III. 

Oh, puny man ! 
Oh, Uiidge of Time upon the ocean of Eternity — 
A microscopic parasite upon this lump of Earth, 
Which lies, the lightest sand upon the shoreless sea of space, 
Thou darest to say. There is no God, but only evolution, 
Natural law or chance ! Who ordained the law, 
Developed man, and ruled the accidents of Chance? 
Who guided evolution through formless void and chaos 
In the unpeopled, awful silence of that darkness on the deep ? 
Who hung this little dog-cage earth so subtly 
On the verge between centripetal-centrifugal. 
That one small pebble, by an urchin tossed 
From shore to sea, might shift the centre of the 
Universe's gravity ? Who taught this earth-clod. 
Through O'ons of whirling ages to thread its way 
Among the myriad worlds up-shining in the sky. 
In all the vast infinity of space appalling? 
Who held the hissing molten mass thrown into space. 
And crushed its heaving hell-billows into shape; 
Lighted up the darkness on the face of the deep. 
And shaped the awful, desolate, formless void 
For monstrous fish-and-lizard shapes primeval? 
What brainless, soulless vis viva or vitalis 
Prepared this circling globe to be the home of man? 
Honolulu. J- M. C. 



NOTICES FROM THE PRESS. 



CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN. 

In the death of General James M. Comly, of the 
Toledo Commercial, Ohio loses one of her best 
newspaper men, one of her most incisive writers, 
and one of her most public-spirited citizens. With 
the exception of the four years spent abroad as 
United States Minister to the Hawaiian Islands, 
General Comly had been a hard worker in the news- 
paper field since 1865, and in the first ten years of 
his newspaper career he probably wrote as many 
pungent and striking paragraphs as any man in 
America. Where another man would write a column, 
Comly would tliink a column and put the thinking 
intp half a dozen lines of crisp, hot words that 
would strike the object or person aimed at like a 
minie ball. 

He was a self-made, scholarly man, and he had 
made his newspaper reputation when his friendship 
for Gov. Hayes brought him prominently into the 
political campaign of 1876. After the election he 
was one of the advisers of the President-elect, and 
was present at the famous interview in which Major 
Burke spoke for the Democrats of the South. Gen. 
Comly went to the Sandwich Islands with the hope 
that the climate would restore his health, which 
had failed under the strain of newspaper work, and 
he returned in 1881 to take up newspaper work 

-48— 



again, and to widen the circle of his cordial and 
earnest friends among newspaper men. 

CLEVELAND LEADER. 

By the death of Gen. Comly, editor of the 
Toledo Commercial, Ohio loses one of her most 
scholarly and widely known editors. General Comly 
was not only a gifted writer, but served with distinc- 
tion in the war of the rebellion, and was snbse- 
quently appointed Minister to the Sandwich Islands. 
He was especially noted as a keen and bright 
editorial paragraplier. . and made the Ohio State 
Journal famous by its incisive and apt comments on 
affairs of the day. 

OHIO STATE JOURNAL. 

General Comly belonged to the mediasval era or 
school of journalists in Ohio, and flourished most in 
a day when more attention was given to opinions 
and less to news. In this day of telegraphing and 
rapid transit the journalist has more to do in keeping 
people informed as to what is going on than in 
telling them what sliould be done. No men have 
seen greater changes than the older journalists of 
to-day. While most of the older school of Ohio 
journalists are gone, General Comly is among the 
first of the prominent ones who bronght newsi)apers 
to their present high standing. Mr. Plympton, of 
the Commercial -Gazette, preceded him, Halstead, 
Reed, Smith, Bickham. Cowles, Armstrong and 
others who were contemporaries, are still vigorous 
and able each day to do the active work for which 

—49— 



they are so ably equipped by nature and years of 
experience. It was among such master minds as 
these that General Comly rose to recognition as a 
leader of the thought and affairs of the state. He 
was one of the " Ohio Men " in times when Ohio 
was first in war, first in all the departments and 
councils of the government, first in journalism and 
first in a vast reserve of talent, energy and 
patriotism. Had he lived earlier or later, however, 
it is doubtful whether the General could have done 
more. He lived and wielded his pen in time of 
opportunities, and he showed himself equal to them 
under all circumstances. While the opportunities 
of the civil war and the dark years which followed 
it were unsurpassed for personal distinction and 
success, those for failure were equally good. These 
were times when many great men made mistakes, 
both as to the conduct of the war, re-construction, 
negro suffrage, security of public debt, resumption 
of specie payments, national banking, the tariff and 
other questions, but General Comly was always a 
close student of current events and made no promi- 
nent mistakes that reflect on his judgment, while 
his loyalty and integrity were never questioned. 
Whatever the wires flashed into the office at night, 
he was ready in those days following the war, when 
issues were constantly coming up, to express a sound 
opinion on in the State Journal next morning. He 
was not one of those men who sought popularity, 
but was fearless in expressing what he thought 
right and proper. Like other journalists, whatever 
errors of judgment or sentiment he may have made 
were magnified by the force of expression that 
always characterized his arguments, and the light- 

—50— 



house prominence of his position. As a citizen, 
neighbor and friend he was one of the best of men. 

" None knew him but to love him, 
Nor named him but to praise." 



TOLEDO BEE. 

General Comly, for some years past editor of 
the Toledo Commercial, whose death occurred 
Tuesday at 9:50 o'clock p. m., was recognized not 
only in Ohio, but throughout many other states as 
one of the brightest journalists of the country, and 
he was witlial everywhere admitted to be one of the 
most kindly and worthy gentlemen whom his 
acquaintances had ever been permitted to know. 
And while nothing can atone for the affliction which 
his family sufi'ers, his legion of friends everywhere 
will regret the loss of the genial gentleman, the 
warm-hearted friend and the able journalist. 
****** 

General Comly was an experienced journalist ; 
even tempered, he never began a newspaper quarrel ; 
but conscious of his own ability, he seldom retired 
from a controversy until he was the acknowledged 
victor. He had pleasant words for everybody, but 
fawned to no one. He was a type in our profession 
to be emulated, his was a life to be respected, and 
his memory cannot be too highly honored. If there 
were more Comlys there would be a better class of 
newspapers. This city and this state will miss 
genial, affable, able General Comly 

— ul— 



OHIO STATE JOURNAL. 

The death of General James M. Comly removes 
one who has taken a prominent part in pnb'ic 
affairs for the last quarter of a centnry. A man of 
great natural ability and eminent attainments, he 
became distinguished as a soldier, journalist and 
diplomat. A true type of the American citizen, he 
was indeed a statesman, fully comprehending ques- 
tions of the day and fearlessly expressing his convic- 
tions thereon. From humble and most honorable 
ancestry, he was born and bred to greatness. A poor 
boy in the hills of Perry county, he won distinction 
as a man on the field of battle, was recognized as a 
leader in moulding public opinion in the capacity 
of an editor, and was officially complimented for his 
able and faithful representation of his country at a 
foreign court. His honors were many and varied, 
but his reputation rests upon his high standing as a 
journalist. That was his profession, and that was 
what he himself considered the basis of such distinc- 
tion as he may have achieved. He deserves all 
the credit that can be given him professionally. 
Although well educated, mostly through his own 
efforts, and devoting three years to the study and 
two to the practice of law, he bent all of his energies 
to his accomplishment as a journalist. Away back 
in the forties he was an apprentice in the State 
Journal office, and became a practical printer, passed 
through all the stages of printer, proof-reader, fore- 
man, and was by education, experience and every 
way qualified for the position he held afterward on 
the State Journal and Toledo Commercial. * 

* He was a true gentleman, with tlie highest 

—52— 



sense of honor. He would have been an ornament 
in a modern age of chivahy — gallant, gentle, kind 
and generous to a fault, as well as able, honest and 
true. His word was as good as his bond. Full of 
honors and good traits, he has gone to his rest. 
Peace to his ashes. 

TOLEDO BLADE. 

General James M. Comly, the able journalist, 
the brilliant scholar, the upright citizen and the 
honest man, after months of suffering, borne with 
wonderful fortitude, passed on into the better and 
higher life last evening a little before 10 o'clock. The 
event was not unexpected, and yet it is no less a 
shock to Toledo people, who had learned during the 
few years he has made his home in this city to 
thoroughly respect his character and purposes. His 
loss will be deeply felt and mourned, not only by 
those who knew him personally, but by everybody 
who recognizes how important is the living influ- 
ence of every good man in the community where he 
lives. 

General Comly's reputation is by no means a 
purely local one. For more than a quarter of a 
century he has taken a prominent position in the 
state and country, first as a brave soldier, winning 
laurels upon the battle-field, and later as the fear- 
less journalist, who not only had a keen under- 
standing of the questions of the hour, but always 
expressed his convictions boldly and maintained 
them in the face of any and all opposers. As a 
diplomat during the time he represented this country 
in Honolulu he won marked distinction, and was 

— 5S— 



officially complimented for the ability which he 
displayed. 

Yet it was in his chosen profession of journal- 
ism that he made his greatest and most lasting 
reputation, and during his connection with the 
Ohio State Journal, of which he was at the head 
for many years. During that period after the war, 
which was one of the opportunities in which talent 
and energy guiding the pen made marked impres- 
sions, he succeeded in maintaining the standing for 
loyalty and patriotism that had been established 
by his conduct as a soldier. His mistakes were rare, 
but when he made them, he stood by the conse- 
quences manfully. 

Of his public career no more need be said. 
Elsewhere the details are given in full. Of his 
private life, its beauty and integrity, much might 
be written. He was a gentleman of the old school, 
loyal in his friendships, outspoken and open in his 
enmities, but always and everywhere a gentleman. 
His brilliant social qualities were tempered by a 
shrinking reserve that carried with it, to those who 
did not know him well, a suggestion of haughti- 
ness, but no man was further from aught of that 
kind. 

He has gone — a man able, honest, gallant, 
generous and true, the loving husband and father, 
the useful citizen, gone in the prime of his man- 
hood, but leaving an unfading memory behind 
him of honorable, upright living, that will rest as 
a benison upon those wdio so sadly mourn his de- 
parture. 



THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE. 

A mucli more famous man could have died 
without bringing the sadness to as many hearts as 
did the telegraphic announcement that Gen. James 
M. Comly had passed away at his home in Toledo, 
Ohio, on the evening of the 26tli ult. 

The best that can be said of Gen. Comly is the 
best that can be said of any man — that he was a 
splendid type of a high class American. He had 
in a degree all the good qualities of our race. Bril- 
liant in intellect, brave of soul, true of heart, loyal, 
unselfish and steadfast, he was a man whom all that 
knew him admired as well as loved. His was a 
character unusually well rounded. Where many 
men seem only at their best when viewed from 
certain stand-points, he seemed at his best from 
whatever point he was viewed. He was a brilliant 
journalist, a thorough soldier, a competent business 
man, a successful diplomat, and a devoted husband 
and father. 

Gen. Comly was born of good Quaker stock in 
New Lexington, Perry county, Ohio, 55 years ago. 
He received a good education, and after graduating 
from college learned the printer's trade, and worked 
at the case wdiile studying law. He was for several 
years foreman of the composing room of the Ohio 
State Journal, of Columbus, Ohio, but left that 
position to enter upon the practice of the law. He 
had already distinguished himself as a terse and 
vigorous writer. At the same time he paid much 
attention to military matters, and was a member of 
a crack militia company. When the war broke out 
he at once enlisted as a private soldier, but was 



elected a Lieutenant, and did some months' duty as 
such. The Governor of Ohio then appointed him 
Lieutenant-Colonel of the 43d Ohio, but he relin- 
quished this to take a Major's commission in the 
23d Ohio, in which there was a promise of speedier 
service in the field. The 23d had a phenomenal lot 
of field officers. Its first Colonel was Gen. W. S. 
Rosecrans, its second Gen. E. K. Scammon, its third 
President Rutherford B. Hayes, and its fourth Gen. 
Comly. Stanley Matthews, now one of the Asso^''i.te 
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
was Lieutenant-Colonel until he was made Colonel 
of the 51st Ohio. Maj. Comly was with this splendid 
regiment constantly during its long and arduous 
service, from the day he joined it until it was mus- 
tered out at the close of the war. He repeatedly 
distinguished himself by gallantry in action. When 
Lieut.-Col. Hayes was shot down at the battle of 
South Mountain, Maj. Comly tool^ command and 
fought the regiment brilliantly. When Col. Hayes 
was given the command of a brigade, Lieut. CoL 
Comly succeeded to the permanent command of the 
regiment, and conducted it through all the hard 
fighting in the Shenandoah Valley and West Vir- 
ginia till the war closed. He was made a full 
Colonel, and Col. Hayes a brigadier-General for 
gallant conduct at the battle of the Opequan. In 
1865 he was bre vetted Brigadier-General. 

On his return home he became editor and senior 
proprietor of the Ohio State Journal, on which he 
had worked as a printer, and soon made it a power 
in the State. He was one of the keenest and most 
incisive writers on the press of the country. In 
1870 Gen. Grant appointed him postmaster at Col- 

—56— 



nmbuis, which office he held until his friend and 
comrade, Gen. Hayes, became President, who 
ap})ointed liim Minister to the Hawaiian Islands. 
While holding this office there were internal con- 
vulsions in the Kingdom, and foreign complications 
that demanded unusual discretion, and he acquitted 
himself admirably. On his return from Honolulu 
Gen. Comly and his partner sold out the Ohio State 
Journal and bought the Commercial, of Toledo, of 
which he was the senior proprietor and editor at 
the time of his death. 

(iren. Comly was an earnest member of the 
G. A. R.. and neglected no opportunity to advance 
the interests of the Order, and lend a helping hand 
to the disabled veteran. The veterans have lost a 
steadfast comrade and a staunch champion. 

DAYTON JOURNAL. 

The announcement of the death of General 
James M. Comly is re('eived with profound sorrow 
throughout the state. * ^' His brilliant 

career as a soldier and journalist is not an unfa- 
miliar story. He entered the volunteer army at the 
outbreak of the rebellion, and rose from the rank of 
Lieutenant to tliat of Brevet Brigadier. His servic*e 
continued fnmi the beginning till the close of the 
war, and was fitly recognized as that of a brave and 
efficient officer. * * He leaves in the 

hearts of many friends pleasant memories of his 
genial nature that will long endure. The sadness 
with which the intelligence of his death was received 
will not be a mere ephemeral regret, but will endure 
as the years go by and the time comes when the 



friends who loved him shall be called, as he was, to 
pass through the valley of the shadow of death — 
the way appointed for all men. 



PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 

((.)liic) Sliito Journal.) 

A called meeting of the board (^f trade was 
held yesterday morning to take suitable action on 
the death of General James M. Comly, the second 
president of the old organization. President Randall 
in opening si)oke feelingly of the many admirable 
traits of the dead journalist, statesman and soldier, 
characterizing him as one of the most brilliant men 
of his day : a man of national reputation, a gallant 
soldier and a citizen whose worth was universally 
recognized. 

* ;1; t' * ;!j " --1^ 

S. S. Kickly spoke of General Comly's address 
on the resources of tlie Hocking Valley when the 
incorporation and construction of a raili'oad into 
that section first began to be agitated. Mr. Kickly 
thought this the ablest production that was ever 
delivered before the board. The speaker also 
alliuled to General ComlyV lioiuc life, liis career as 
a journalist and his ivcord as a citizen. 

;■; ;(; :J: ^: ^: ;!: 

J. C. Briggs. business manager of the State 
Journal, said that we were naturally inclined to 
sum up a man by his public acts, but that there 
were phases of character in the detail of men's lives 
that gave one clearer insights into the motives that 
actuated them. During an association of seven 
years as an employee of the State Journal while 

—58— 



Geiiei-al Comly wais one of its proprietory, he had 
learned to know much of these pleasant phases of 
his character. He Avas ahvays the courtly gentleman 
among his employees that marked him in more public 
life, never patronizing or domineering, and always 
showing an appreciation of work well done. 
Among the older employees of the State Journal his 
memory was held in the highest esteem. 

TOLEDO COMMERCIAL. 

*J5 T* ^P 'F ^r 1~ 

General Comly was one of the best known and 
most highly respected journalists in the country. 
He had few equals as a writer for the public press. 

*i* ^f %if ^^ ^^ vt* 

*X* ^* ^* *T* "^ 'T* 

While those who knew General Comly as a 
writer learned to admire his ability and to respect 
his integrity, those who knew him personally 
learned to love him for his virtues as a man and 
friend. To them his loss is one which reaches 
deep into the heart. While he possessed the highest 
type of manly courage his heart was tender, sym})a- 
tlietic and confiding as that of a child. His greatest 
pleasure was derived in doing good to others. His 
heart was overflowing with kindness and none (-on Id 
know him but to love him. 

The General had a strong' brotherly attachmciil 
for all Union soldiers, and took great pleasure in 
meeting with them. He was a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, the Loyal Legion, and the 
Society of the Army of the Potomac, and never 
allowed an op])ortunity to promote the interests 
of his comrades in aims to ])ass unimproved. 

— .jy— 



The death of such a man casts a gloom over the 
entire community, and is crushing to those who have 
been intimately associated with him. 

^< ^ H= ^ ^ >f; 

An incident occurred in the early life of Gen- 
eral Comly which serves to illustrate the traiiihig 
which his mind had received and his ability as a 
thinker and writer. Judge Thomas C. Jones of 
Delaware, one of Ohio's ablest and best men to-day, 
was engaged in discussing some important question 
through the columns of the Ohio State Journal. 
(The writer of this cannot now recall the subject 
under discussion.) General Comly was a compositor 
in the State Journal office at the time and prepared 
a communication for that paper in reply to Judge 
Jones. It was such a complete refutation of the 
position taken by the Judge that he could only call 
at the office to inquire as to liis antagonist, expect- 
ing to be given the name of some leading man in 
the state. When the author was pointed out to 
him and he saw that he had been so comi)letely 
overwhelmed by a mere boy (as the General then 
appeared) and he working at the case, the Jiulge 
was fairly dumb from astonishment, but then and 
there formed an acquaintance and friendship whicli 
lasted through life, the Judge always having the 
highest respect for the General. 

THE TOLEDO JOURNAL. 

During the past week a brave, gentle. h)yai life 
has gone out from among us. Tender words have 
been written and spoken of him : loyal tributes to a 
brave soldier, a kind father, a loving husband, and 

—60— 



a true friend liave been teaifiillv laid on his coffin. 
And yet nothing has l)een said, nothing can be 
said, that sliall in anv mannei- lessen the sorrow 
that has come to those near him. 

Gen. Comly was one who was most fittingly 
described in the one word that expresses the highest 
type of" manhood — a gentleman. Faithful to every 
duty, his was a life that was a constant pleasure to 
those who knew him. and the memory of which will 
ever be like a I'are perfume, fragrant with the rec-ord 
of duty performed and love requited. Loyal to liis 
friends, constant to those he loved, fulfilling everv 
duty from the standi)oint of an exalted manhood, 
he was at once brave and tender, fearless aiid unsel- 
fish, loval and vet charitable. 

NORWALK CHRONICLE. 

^ -^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

The death of General Comlv will be a loss to 
the He})ubli(*an party of Ohio and of the nation and 
to the editorial fratei'uitv evei'vwhere. Ht^ was a 
noble man. 

WASHINGTON CHRONICLE. 

He was a man of genial and social <pialities. a 
bright journalist and witty, writer and in his mili- 
tary service during the war. and civil service since, 
(as postmaster of Columbus and subsequently Min- 
ister to Honolulu.) he won merited distinction. '"^^ * 

Thousands of hearts ache at the announcement 
of General Comly "s death. 

—61— 



CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. 

General Comly, of the Toledo Commercial, is 
linking again, and the announcement in liis own 
paper indicates little hope of his recovery. Tlie 
news will throw a sadness over the Repnblican 
gathering there, for he is a man who lias ahvays 
possessed the respect and confidence of his own 
party, and who was liked and respected by all who 
knew him, irrespective of party. 

COLUMBUS SUNDAY MORNING NEWS. 

The death of General James M. ( -omly is a sad 
invasion of the ranks of Ohio journalists. * * * 
What he prepared for the omnivorous press and 
the eager public- sparkled with humor or gleamed 
with the very eai'uestness of the man. General 
Comly's career in this city as lawyer, editor of the 
Ohio State Journal and postmaster is well known. 
When he came back from the Sandwich Islands, 
where he had been United States Minister, he 
received a cordial welcome, and it was with regret 
that it was learned that he had decided to make his 
home in Toledo, where he had bought the Commer- 
cial. 

To younger men in the same profession he was 
generous of his help and many of them have cause 
to remember him with gratitude. He has done his 
work and it is good enough to be judged by. 

LANCASTER EAGLE. 

>!« iji ^; >1< ;■; ^ 

He was a brilliant journalist, a brave soldier, 
and a good citizen. 

—62— 



BUCYKUS JOURNAL. 

?fs ?jC *lC *j^ *x* ^^ 

Attei'the war. ais editor of the Daily Oliio State 
Journal, he became prominent as one of tlie bright- 
est neAVspaper men. not only in the State, but in the 
Nation. He shone in every department ; as corres- 
pondent, political writer, statistician, essayist, and 
pai-agraphist, he was alike brilliant and interesting; 
possibly as a pungent witty paragraphist. when in 
the harness, he had not a living equal. 

B()\VJ>1N(; UKKEN SENTINEL. 
He was one ol' tlie ablest Journalists of Ohio. 

BRYAN DEMOCRAT. 

His death tliough uol unexpected, is lamented 
by a lai'ge cii-cle of a('(iiiaintauces in all parties. 

AKRON BEACON. 

Ill the death of (Jen. James M. Coiiilv. editor of 
the Toledo Comiiu'rcial. tlic Journalism of ( )liio loses 
one of its brightest ornaments and most notable 
members, while the loss to his family and friends of 
his gentle, genial, gracious presence is heyoiid all 
calculation. No knightlier heart ever honored life 
or faced death, and Gen. Comlvs memoi'v will be 
bright and precious with all who knew him. as long 
as eternity shall retain the thoughts of what was 
best and most loveable here. 



MT. VERNON REPUBLICAN. 

Another good man gone. When death claimed 
General Jame^ M. Comly it sought out as brave a 
man. as kind and affectionate a husband and father, 
and as generous and true a friend as the world 
ever sa^v. It was the good foi'tune of the writer of 
this paragraph, to make the accjuaintance of the 
General many years ago. while he was editor of the 
Ohio State Journal. We were thrown together a 
great deal and each enjoyed the full confidence of 
the other — a trust that was never shakeu or 
disturbed. As a terse. })()i)uhii- newspaper pai'a- 
graplu'r General Comly had no superior and it was 
tliis peculiar bright style of woi'k. that brought him 
into prominence and maintained his supremacy 
among journalists. AVe turu a rule to the memory 
of our good and kind friend aud may his eternity 
be one of bliss and repose. 

FOSTORIA REVIEW. 

He was one of the ablest and best knowu 
editoi-s in Ohio, and in his death the fraternity 
loses one of its best and brightest members. 

THE COLUMBUS 1M8PATCH. 

The interment at Green Lawn of the late 
General Condv not onlv laid at i-est, in the city 
which he undoubtedly loved best, the body of one 
whom all of our people liigldy respected in life, 
but added to the long list of good soldiers resting 
there another whose grave will l)e remembered 
upon each returning Memorial Day. 



UPPER SANDUSKY REPUBLICAN. 

ij^ ^C ^ ^t* "T* 5|i 

Gen. Jamet^ M. Comly hay for a quarter of a 
century been an interesting and conspicuous figure 
at Republican State conventions. He was well 
and favorably known to newsj^aper men. and had 
the reputation of being one of the best editorial 
writers of tlie country. A courteous, cordial and 
ever pleasant gentleman, he was justly and highly 
esteemed by the fraternity. But how strange tlie 
fate and ending of man. It is said that the General 
was a member of the committee to secure the hold- 
ing of the convention in his own city. The con- 
vention was secured and held there, and while it 
was in session. General Comly. instead of being an 
active, leading spirit, mingling with the thousands 
of liis old friends and admirers, was lying a 
cori)se at his home in that city. 

GEN. J. M. COiMLY AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN AND 

ANTIETAM. 

(Kniiii the inililishcd lU'miuiscciici's ol a hicmiiIht iif llif 2'.U\ Ki.'.i,'iiiU'lil. i 

* * '^' There is not a man li\ ing who 
was connected with the 28(1. 12th. or 8()tli Ohio 
Kegiments. forming the First Brigade, but that 
remembers with [)ride the ])art taken by each, mem- 
ber of that grand command in those bloody strug- 
gles ; and each iiHMiiber of the 28d remem])ers with 
reverence and pride, the gallant and almost i-eck- 
less bravery of Major Condy as he passed up and 
down tlie lines of the Regiment, cheering the men 
as they charged up the mountain side amid the 

—do— 



death-dealing storm of grape and canister that was 
poured into their faces from the thousands of rifles 
and cannon that were massed in their front that 
Sunday afternoon. ****** 
* * Remembering those events, they 

will be glad to read again the General Order issued 
shortly after the battle of Antietam : 

General Order 

No. 20, 
Antietam, Mix 

So long after the heat of action you may be 
congratulated on the universal appreciation of the 
part you have borne in the recent battles. You 
have done your part to make yourselves, our state 
and our arms famous. You have stood the test of 
endurance under the repeated attacks of veteran 
troops. You have crossed bayonets with the flower 
of the rebel army in superior numbers and driven 
him from the field. The number of your dead and 
wounded Avill show with what desperation tlie 
enemy fought and with what glorious determin- 
ation you overcame him. Comrades! Our dead lie 
buried on the field, uncoffined. but not unhonored 
or unwept. Their monuments are in our hearts. 
We who saw them fall know how a true soldier dies. 
We who have survived them know how a true 
soldier's memory lives after him. Do your duty as 
they did ; do your duty as you did then, and fame 
and honor, the glorious meed of the soldier, shall 
always await you. By order of 

J. M. COMLY, 
Signed: Major Commanding 23d Reg't. O. V. I. 

Harry Thompson, Adjutant. 

—66— 



LETTER FROM ORANGE FRAZER. 

(The Clinton Republican. Wilmington, Oliio, Sept. 1st, 1887. 

Camp Hornets Nest, Adirondak Wilderness, | 

August 18th, 1887. \ 

We three, the lawyer, the professor and yours 
truly, started out for a trip : object, health aud 
pleasure : objective point, tlie Adirondak WiUler- 
ness. Kn route I stopped at 'J'oledo during the 
sitting of the Republican State Convention. In 
that hospitable city tlie only drawback to the 
pleasure of the visitors was the death of General 
James M. Comly, which occurred while we were 
there. It reminded me of a time, years ago. when 
a former Wihnington boy, desiring to visit the Sand- 
which Islands with a view to entering business 
there, wrote me to obtain for him among my friends 
a letter of introduction for him, if possilile, to some 
business man of Honolulu. General Comly had 
just returned from his service as United States 
Minister there, and I at once dropped him a line 
commending the young man and requesting for him 
the favor of an introductorv letter to some one of 
the GeueraVs friends in those far Pacific Islands. 

Ilia few days there came to me a handsome 
letter (^f introduction for the boy. addi'essed to the 
business men of Honolulu generally, and. iu 
addition, a long, fatherly letter of advice, giving 
him minute instructions in regard to the different 
matters which a stranger boy would need to know 
on his first visit to that foreign land. It showed 
the great, kindly heart of the General, and his 
willingness to aid any boy. unknown to him though 

—67— 



he might be, who was willing to aid himself. Many 
a man holding the position General Comly did, and 
embarrassed with as many business cares, would 
have refused the favor, sent a short, crusty reply, or 
delegated to his secretary the task of answering. 
But General Comly was a gentleman in the best 
sense of that much abused word. 



BLESSINGS OF AFFLICTION. 

GENERAL COMLY's PHILOSOPHY AND FORBEARANCE ON HIS 

DEATH-BED. 

The Toledo Commercial publishes the follow- 
ing from the pen of a professional associate who 
was near General Comly during his last days of 
suffering : 

Over a year ago when General Comly was suf- 
fering from an affliction for the removal of which 
he submitted to a severe surgical operation, the 
writer had quite an extended talk with him, the 
conversation naturally drifting toward the subject 
of human suffering. The writer remarked that 
human nature appeared to be somewhat like a 
flower, requiring hard pressing, or (-rushing, for its 
complete development, referring to a number of 
cases where genius and the finest literary produc- 
tions apparently sprang from affliction. 

To this sentiment the General responded sub- 
stantially : "Yes, I have observed that. I think 
bodily sufi:ering, to the thoughtful person, is not an 
unmixed evil. It operates something like ;^ub-soil 
ploughing. It develops new elements of thought, 
broadens and deepens our sympathies, makes us 

—68— 



more charitably disposed, and strengthens every 
better element in our nature. Bodily suffering to 
persons engaged in literary pursuits is like business 
reverses in the commercial world. Some will take 
such misfortunes philosophically, courageously, and 
start out anew, stronger for their experience, while 
others give up and never rally from their depression. 
Some men see nothing but evil in physical suffering 
and give themselves up to complaining. I feel, 
with you, that physical suffering may be the best 
schooling we can have sometimes, developing ele- 
ments of strength which otherwise might remain 
dormant. We may come out of such suffering 
stronger and better if we take the right view of 
things and regard these afflictions as the chasten- 
ing rod. 

The conversation ran in this vein for some time, 
the General revealing a spirit of confidence in an 
overruling Providence which impressed the writer 
because it was the first time this subject had been 
touched upon. Like many others. General Comly 
was a true Christain, although he made no profes- 
sion, or j)arade, of that fact. He leaned upon the 
mercy and justice of his Heavenly Father with all 
the confiding faith that a child shows in tlie pro- 
tecting care of its earthly parent. 



—till— 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF CONDOLENCE. 



Lake George, August 1, 1887. 

Dear Mm. Comli/: 

i]i i^ ;}; ^ ;^< ^ 

I need not praise liim to yon. who knew better 
than anyone else how good and trne he was. Bnt 
his memory will always be dear to me as his friend- 
ship was. 

Years and the world had drifted ns apart, bnt 
I never heard or saw his name withont a thrill of 
the old affection. 

Yonrs Sincerely, 

W. D. HoWKl.LS. 



Cape May, N. J., July 28, 1887. 

Dear Mrs. Gomh) : 

:{; ;|< Hi * * * 

You know I regarded General Comly as not 

only the truest but also the most valuable friend I 

ever had. and well might T love him in his life, and 

sorrow over his grave. 

SaMI EL Shellakar(}kr. 



Wilmington, O., August 3, 1887. 

^ * ;!; ^ ^ * 

He was the soul of honor — the incarnation of 
perfect manhood. He was knowing to the point of 
prescience, and good enough to suggest the better — 
not of this world. His high moral nature always 



70— 



imprefc;sed me. He realized that here we only 
begin to be what we are to be. Ay he once said to 
me in a Honolulu letter : " We are just getting 
ready to be born when w^e die. Death is our real 

birth." 

* :i« * * * * 

This world will not seem quite the same to me 
without him. Your Friend. 

A. P. Russell. 



Mak-o-chee, 0., July 30, 1887. 

il/rs. Coiidy. Dear Frieiul : 

^J^ ^^ ^1^ *7V #^ ^TS 

Such a combination as he possessed of gentle- 
ness and courage, wisdom and toleration. I never 
before encountered. With all his perfect manhood, 
that kept his life upon a higher plane of duty, he 
was yet so lovable, that we less perfect lost the 
sense of rebuke of his jjurer life in the affections 
his generous nature engendered. 

To me it seems but yesterday when he joined 
our company in Virginia. Handsome, shy and yet 
genial, we hailed him as a comrade. The first trial 
under fire revealed to us that he was as brave as he 
was gentle, and that his noble manhood lost noth- 
ing of its stronger qualities, in those of unselfisli 
kindness, and that in becoming a soldier he did not 
cease to be a gentleman. 

He has shown, in all of his relations of life, the 
same rare combination. As a journalist of surpas- 
sing ability he held his faculties under such Avise 
control, that although possessed of a wit that gave 
him great powers of sarcasm, it was rare for him to 
hurt in that direction. He selected his enemies 
with such admii'able knowledge of human nature 

—71— 



that their enmity added to hit^ popularity among 
the more thoughtful. His friends, self -nominated 
as all friends are, come from every party, with all 
shades of difference in opinions, but with one feel- 
ing that makes a common soivrow over his early 
grave. 

To me he is above all the dear, good and tried 
friend, and 1 write of liim tlirough eyes dimmed 
with unavailing tears. 

* ;!; * ;)i * Hi 

Yours Sincerely. 

DoNN Piatt. 



JAMES M. COMLY. 

General Comlv, on account of his comparativelv 
short residence in Toledo, and liis poor health and 
his exacting Imsiness duties wliicli demanded all 
and more than all his strength, was personally 
known to but comparatively few of our citizens, and 
yet his death is regarded by all as a public misfor- 
tune, coupled in many witli a feeling of personal 
loss. 

^[^ JK ^TN J]^ JK ^1^ 

To me his death leaves a deep feeling of per- 
sonal loss. 

While I write, the last sad rites are being per- 
formed, and perhaps even now the first earth clods 
are falling upon his coffin's lid, and at such a time 
we can but cast our thoughts beyoiul life's fitful 
dream forever over now^ for him. Perhaps General 
C'oiiily was not wdiat in professional parlance would 
be called a religious man. and yet if in the great 
division he is not counted among Christians, there 
is something radically wrong in our definition of the 



word, and soinetlii ng not authorized by the teach- 
ings of the Great Master. 

Perhaps he had not the simple unquestioning 
faitli of some in tlie Bible as the word of God sent 
down into this dark world to be a lamp to our feet 
and a light to our path. 

Perhaps he had not the unfaltering, childlike 
faith of some in the perpetual presence of a Divine 
helper in every time of trouble, Avho guards us 
when Ave think not. and watches while in sleep. 

Yet many of the best men the world has ever 
known have been compelled to struggle on through 
life without this light and help, while many of the 
most grasping, greedy, uncharitable and selfish of 
men have professed to have it. 

Wliat then i Are the good lost for want of 
this faith while the evil are saved by it^ Nay 
verilv. 

The Divine master says that by their works ye 
shall know them. He does not on the great day 
say, dei)art from me. ye did not belong to this 
church or })i-ofess this creed or that; but I was 
hungt»red and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty 
and ye gave me no drink; a stranger and ye took 
me not in : naked and ye clothed me not; sick and 
imprisoned and ye visited me not. 

The great gulf divides. Not those professing 
different creeds or those ha\ ing creeds from those 
liaving none, but it divides the habitually well dis- 
posed and useful who do with their might what 
their hands find to do, dis(-harging every public-, 
social and private duty earnestly, faithfully and 
unselfishly, fi-oin the habitually e\il disposed and 
useless. 



We cannot doubt on wliicli side of this great 
gulf our departed friend now stands. 

Goue to the grave, passed the terrible portals, 

Sunk forever in death's dreamless sleep ; 
Such is our dead and faithless language, 

Such the dead faith that makes us weep. 
Not here but risen, passed the bright portals, 

Victor at last in the terrible strife ; 
Gone from a world of tears and shadows 

Into a world of light and life. 
Such is the truth as seen by the angels ; 

While we mourn a death they rejoice at a birth 
Into newness of lite and a world of new beauty, 

Free from the trials and sorrows of earth. 
Toledo, July 29, 1887. Henry T. Niles. 

Bellefontaine, Ohio, July 29th, 1887. 

Mrs. Jame.t M. Comly, Toledo, Ohio: 

My Dear Mrs. Comly: :;«*** 

During our continued service in West Virginia, 
his duties as a commander, and my duties as a 
staff officer, tlirew us constantly together, and I 
knew him intimately as a brother. He was older, 
and more experienced in the world, and his kindly 
counsels and his good words, and his cheering 
endorsements, and flattering encomiums were to me 
constant inspirations. He seemed to have so little 
of selfish humanity about him that he delighted to 
speak the praises of others. 

Himself a devoted and unselfish patriot, he 
delighted to see others as devoted and unselfish as 
himself. Brave beyond question, heroic, and 
daring, there was none of the reckless bravado 
which stamped him as unmindful of danger and 
death, but that cool and determined manliness of 
purpose which liad prepared itself to look death in 

—74— 



the face, and ready to do and to suffer for the just- 
ness of his cause. 

Every soldier who served under him became an 
object of his care, and his earnest solicitude, and 
the friends of the camp-fire and the bivouac, became 
friends of his lifetime. 

^(> 0^ 5|v *T^ ?J» 3H 

Gifted, generous, manly, and courageous, a 
good man has gone, a faithful friend, a true patriot, 
a brave soldier, a manlv honest man. who wore his 
heart upon his sleeve, and ])elieved that men were 
made to know and trust each other. 

:<; ^ ^ ^ * :(: 

Yours very truly, 

Ro«'t. p. Kennedy. 



MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Headquarters Commandery of State of Ohio, } 
Cinciunati, Ohio, Aug. 29, 1887. j 

Mrs James M. Comly. 

My Dear Madam : — I am requested by the Ohio 
Commandery, Military Order Loyal Legion of the 
United States, to convey to you the grief and sor- 
row felt by eacli member of that Commandery, in 
learning of the death of your husband. Gen. J. M. 
Comly. Also to express to you the deep sympathy 
of its members for you and your family in your great 
affliction. We knew him as a brave soldier, winning 
fame and briglit laurels upon the battle-field ; as a 
good citizen whose influence was always on the side 
of right and truth; as a statesman of marked dis- 
tinction and ability, and as a man of strong convic- 
tions and not afraid to express them. 



His social qualities were of that kind which, 
on all occasions and always, stamped him. the gen- 
tleman. 

Of his private life we know enough to show us 
that it was full of purity and beauty. He loved 
the Loyal Legion, and the Loyal Legion loved and 
appreciated him as one of its most honored mem- 
bers; and in his death we feel we have lost an 
honest, pure, true, able and generous man and a 
brave, gallant friend and companion. With you 
and your family we sadly mourn for him. 

I have the honor to be, dear Madam. 
Respectfully and sincerely yours, 

A. H. Mattox, Recorder. 



Marietta, Ohio, August 5th, 1887. 
Giiy S. Conily, Esq., Toledo, Ohio. 

Dear Sir: :;< ^ * ^ 

I never shall cease to regret the lost opportu- 
nity of personally expressing to Gen. Comly my 
earnest sense of obligation and gratitude to him for 
the interest manifested, and the kind words of 
encouragement given by letter and in his Ohio State 
Journal, to the struggling young aspii'ant for liter- 
ary fame. 

* * I feel that I shall never again find so 

indulgent a critic, and kind a patron. * * 

Verv sincerely vours. 

S. M. S. Paoiek. 

Emporia, Kansas, July 27, 1887. 
{A Duipatch.) 

Mrs. J. M. Comly : A brave man is dead. 
Accept my heartfelt sympathy. S. B. Warren. 
[Mr. Warren was a captain in the Twenty-third Ohio.] 



RESOLUTIONS. 



MILITARY ORDER LOYAL LEGION UNITED STATES. 

COMMANDERY OF THE StATE OF OhIO, ) 

Cincinnati, Dec. 21, 1887. ) 

At a stated meeting of this ('ommaudery the 
accompanying report of a committee appointed to 
prepare resolutions on the death of Companion 
Brevet Brigadier-General James Monroe Stuart 
Comly, U. S. V., was read and adopted. 
By Order of 

General Wm. T. Sherman, 

U. S. A., Commander. 
Official : 

A. H. Mattox, 

1st Lieut. U. S. Vols., Recorder. 



JAMES MONROE STUART COMLY. 



Born, Perry County, O., March 6, 1832. 
Died, Toledo, O., July 26, 1887. 



To the Commander and Companions of the Ohio Commandei'y, 

Loyal Legion of the U. S. : 

Companion James M. f'omly was born in Perry County. Ohio, Jfarch tJ, l.s;5'J. He 
spent the first ten years of his life on a farm; then removing to Cohimljiis, Ohio, lie 
entered ii printing otflce, where he learned how to conduct a newspaper business, to 
which he afterward devoted much of his life. At an early age he was left dependent on 
his own exertions, yet found such time for study that wlicn sixteen years of age lie 
graduated at the Col\inibus High Scliool. 

His journalistic work was continued at tlie ofhce of the Ohio State Journal for sev- 
eral years; but at length he commenced the study of law in the office of Attorney-Gen- 
eral Wolcott. and in 1S50 was admitted to practice under a special examination by Chief 
.lustice Swan, of the S\ipreme Court of the State 

Very soon after the first gun was tired at Charleston Harbor, Coiui)aniou Comly 
enlisted as a ])rivate soldier in an independent comiiauy, and upon company orgiiniiia- 
tiou \\"as elected by his comrades In the otlicc of Second Lieutenant. 



For several mouths liis little eommand did duty guarding the railroads in the 
vicinity of Marietta. In June, 1861, he entered the United States service, and in August 
of the same year was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 43d Regiment Ohio Infantry. 
By his own request Governor Dennison commissioned him Ma.ior of the 23d Regiment of 
Ohio Infantry in place of Major R. B. Hayes, promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. General 
Comly's request for such transfer and change of rank was made for the purpose of 
enabling him to engage in active service at the front. 

From his position as Major of the 23d Regiment he regularly succeeded to the 
vacancies caused by the promotion of General Hayes, until he became Colonel of his 
regiment, and was brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant conduct in the field. 

After peace was concluded he returned to Cohimbus, Ohio, to his journalistic work, 
and was by President Grant appointed Postmaster there, which otflce he administered to 
the satisfaction of the department and his fellow citizens. 

As the political campaign of 187G approached he was frequently and favoralily men- 
tioned as the probable candidate for the office of Governor of Ohio, 

Soon after the inauguration of President Hayes, General Comly was appointed and 
confirmed as United States Minister to the Sandwich Islands. From midsummer, 1877, 
for a period of five years he served the government in that capacity, and then returned 
to his editorial work at Columbus, Ohio, with the highest testimonials of his efficiency 
from both liis own government and the government to which he was accredited. 

On the ()th day of February, 1881, General Comly was elected a member of the First 
Class of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. 

On the 2Cth day of July, 1887, at his home in Toledo, with his family and friends 
around him, he quietly passed away. 

Among the middle aged of the sisterhood of States, Ohio has long held the post of 
honor, and, as was most fitting, Ohio's sons, in all of the fields where energy, courage, 
tenacity, and intelligence were requisite, have been among the most conspicuous. 
Among a class so well equipped in all that ennobles manhood, our deceased companion 
made for himself both in war and peace a most permanent and enviable reputation. As 
a soldier, the history of his regiment is his history. He was with it in all its preparation 
for, and service in the field, the most of the time its actual commander. Its flag was in 
the front at Antietam and Winchester, and in the ability of its officers and the grand 
achievements of its men it stood the peer of any Ohio Regiment. 

Recognizing in our deceased companion one of the best types of the Ohio scholar, 

gentleman, and soldier, we. his companions in arms, gratefully add this testimonial to 

the records of our Order. 

W. S. THURSTIN, 

Captain Company D. llltli <). V. I. 
RICHARD WAITE, 

Captain Company A, S4th <). V. I. 
BIRCHARD A. HAYES, 

Second Class Companion, 
H. M. BACON, 

Chaplain (v.d lud. Vol. Inffy. 

Committee. 



RESIDENT MEMBERS OF THE LOYAL LEGION. 

At a meeting of the resident members of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of 
the United States, held at Toledo, Ohio, on the 27th day of July, 1887, and composed of 
companions Chajdain H. M. Bacon, Capt. H. W. Bigelow, Colonel J. B Bell, Capt. R. W. 
Clarke, Lieut. H. P. Fowler, Gen. J. \V. Fuller, Capt. J. K. Hamilton, Lieut. C. D. Lind- 
sey, Lieut. W. H. H. Smith, Capt. W. S. Thurstin, Capt. Richard Waite, Gen. C. L. Young, 
Lieut. D. R. Austin, Capt Hartwell Osborn, Capt. W. W. Cooke, Maj. G. A. Collamore, 
Maj. S. F. Forbes, Capt. E. M. Goodwin, B. A. Hayes, Esq., Col. H. G. Neubert, Gen. W. 
H. Raynor, Maj. Norman Waite, Lieut. R. D Whittlesey, Hon. W T. Walker, Lieut. R. 
H. Cochran, Lieut. J. L. Wolcott and Rev. H. W. Pierson, D. D., the following resolu- 
tions were adopted : 

—78— 



J?esoh'ed, Tliat ill tho lU'ath 1)1' (k'Ucnil .Ijiiiies M. Coinly his compauioiis have h)st 
one (if the most esteeiiierl inenil)ers of their home eirele; the order one of its most hiyal 
iinrl useful companions, and the eountry one of the best types of the Ameriean citizen. 

As an officer of the volunteer army he saw his duty to his country clearly, and witli 
unswerving fortitude and unflinchins: conrase performed it to the admiration of l)oth 
sujieriors and subordinates. 

Asa civil officer, char.i;e(l witli tlie ailministration of imiiortaut imljlic trusts for the 
nation, his conduct of afltairs always justified the wisdom of his a])ii<iintmi'iits. 

As a private citizen his modesty, his kindness and his capacity embellished a life 
siii>;ularly free from suspicion of wronj.'. 

To his bereaved family, we otter our most earnest anil sincere sympathy comnuiid- 
iuK tliem always to the tendcrest care of the Great t'ommandcr who has called tlu'ircom- 
paiiion and ours to himself. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to the family, and thai a 

copy be also presented to the Commandery of Ohio with a request that an entry of the 

same be made upon its records. 

CHARLES L. YOUNG, 

Attest: Local Secretary. 

\V. S. THURSTIN, 

Chairman. 



THE TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 



The minutes of last year's reunion were read, followed l)y the reailiiiK of letters of 
regret from the absent comrades. 

Almost every letter contained some toucliing allusion to tjieir departed comra<lc 
and General, ,1. M Comly, who liad won tlie heart of every .soldier under him. 

(ieneral Hayes then reail a beautiful and eloquent culoKy to the memory of 
• ieneral Comly. 

The .sentiment expressed in tlic euloiiy was ailoiiteil as that i>f the regiment, and 
from the faces of these comrades yon could easily .see that the "aye, aye" came from 
their very hearts. 

The annual election of otlicers took place, ending the business meeting. The i>res- 
eut corps of officers were unanimou.sly re-elected, Gen. Comly's place being left vacant 
as a token of respect to his memory.— i^rom the Sandusky Kegister's Lakeside Correspon- 
dence, Sept. 1st, 1887. 



-79— 



GKAND ARMY OF THE KEPUBLIC. 

HEADtU'ARTERS FORSYTH PoST, NO. 15, DEPARTMENT OF OHIO, G. A. K, | 

Tgi,edo, Ohio, Aug. 22iul, 1.S87. ]" 

In memory of General James M. Comly, Forsyth Post, No. 15, Department of Ohio, 
G. A R., records the final mu.ster out of another member and comrade. 

General James M Coraly, who died at his residence in this city, on the 26th day of 
July, Iss", was born 6th of March, 1882, Perry County, Ohio, and early developed the 
thoughtful energy and industry which have so marked his .social, civil and military 
career. 

Like many, if not most other men who have done good service in their generation, 
his life in low estate began. 

When but a boy he was an apprentice in the printing office of the Ohio State 
Journal. 

He became theu as thorough and accomplished as a printer as he afterward proved 
himself as an editor, both in Columbus and in our own city, which so deeply feels his 
loss. 

While working at his trade he studied law in the office of Attorney General Wolcolt, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1859, and opened an office, but soon became Chief Clerk 
in the office of A. P. Russell, Secretary of State, where he remained until June, 1861, 
when he enlisted as a private in a company of "hich he was at once elected alieutenant. 

Of his sub.sequent military career it is not necessary to speak in detail. It is inter- 
woven with the history of the nation during the great struggle for union and freedom. 
No higher tribute can be paid our comrade than the simple fact that he was worthy, 
and was acknowledged to be, of the command of the famous Twenty-third O. V. I., the 
regiment of Rosecrans, Matthews and Hayes. 

He was mustered out July 21th, ISiJS, having received the deserved compliment of a 
commission as Brevet Brigadier-General. Though wounded at the battle of Winchester, 
July 24th, 1864, and his health has never since been firm, yet, these later years, especially 
since he has come to reside among us, have been one long heroic struggle against dis- 
ease, and his life since the war has been full of constant and varied activity. In 1865, he 
became editor of the Ohio State Journal. In 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes 
United States Minister to the Hawaiian Islands. 

He returned to this country in 1882. For the last four years he has been a resident 
of Toledo, and during that time became a member of Forsyth Post. His association with 
us has been brief, but it has greatly endeared him to his comrades and the community 
at large. 

Our regret that such a bright, brave and generous citizen has been taken away, is 
tempered with the fond recollection that he esteemed it an honor to have his name 
borne on our roster, and with the comforting knowledge that with sword and pen he 
wrought mightily, for his fellow-man, and has gone to a peaceful rest and a glorious 
reward. 

It is rare that any post, or other body of citizens has among its members one who 
bore so distinguished a part in the great contests of pen and sword which have so 
marked the last quarter of a century, and placed us as a people in the very fore front 
of exalted effort and exalting hope. 

And we feel a most tender appreciation of the fact, that the efforts and influences 
of our departed comrade are going on radiating and extending in innumerable and ever- 
increasing inspiration to a higher citizenship and a nobler manhood. 

We know no higher tribute we can pay his virtues, than the wish that we may cher- 
ish their memory as guide to our aspirations, and lamp in our pathway; so that finally 
we may be deemed worthy to share his comradeship among the brightest and best spirits 
whose society he now adorns. 

—80— 



We tender to his <levoted companion ami fhildren the heartfelt (jondolence of sold- 
iers who feel for their beloved comrade only as soldiers can, and direct that this expres- 
sion be entered upon our records, and that a copy be given to the family. 

R. H. COCHRAN, 
F. A. KITCHEN, 
B. F. GRIFFIN, 

Committee. 



THE COLUMBUS BOARD OF TRADE. 

Whereas, We have been informed of the death, at Toledo, Ohio, on the 26th instant, 
of General James M. Comly, formerly a member and President of the Board of Trade of 
this city, therefore 

Eesolved, That in the death of Mr. Comly, the Board has sustained the loss of one, 
who, while a member, was active in the discharge of his duties, and while President, 
directed its affairs in a judicious and able manner. 

Resolved. That in his death, his family has lost an aflfectionate husband and a kind 
and Indulgent father: the social circle in which he moved, a genial friend, society a bril- 
liant ornament and the country a patriotic and useful citizen. While he died, as it were, 
in the very prime of life, yet he has done his work so well that he leaves behind him 
many evidences of his ability as a writer and of his influence as a journalist. 

Ecsolv'd, That these resolutions be spread on the records of this Board, and a copy 
thereof be .sent by the Secretary to the family of the deceased. 



ACTION OF THE WESTERN ASSOCIATED PRESS AT THE ANNUAL 
MEETING AT DETROIT, OCTOBER 26th, 1887. 

The following paper was pre.sented by Wm. Henry Smith, on behalf of the special 
committee, and the same was unanimously approved. 

In the death of General .Tames M. Comly the country has lost an upright and patri- 
otic (utizen, the profession of journalism abrilliant member, and his family an aftection- 
ate and devoted head. In all of the relations of life he was honorable and true. 

Bred to two of the most important profession.s— the law and journalism— he chose 
the latter as being more congenial, and as opening a wider field for usefulness. If his 
choice had been otherwise, who can doubt that he would have won honorable distinc- 
tion at the bar? 

When the integrity of the I'nion was menaced in 1861, he was amongst the first to 
respoiKl to the call of the President, and although appointed originally as Lt. Colonel of 
the 43rd Ohio Infantry, he accepte«l lower rank in the 23rd Ohio, then in the field, in 
order to get into active service ; ami at the close of the war be was Colonel of the regi- 
ment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, the latter having been earned by gallant and faithful 
services in the tield. We recall with pride, the fact that in this service he lived up to 
that high standard of i)atriotic devotion to his eotuitry, and of humane regard for the in- 
terests and welfare of his fellow-soldiers, that have ever characterized noble minded 
soldiers in all ages. 

The war ended, he modestly resumed his place in the community, with whi<'h he 
had been identified as boy and man: and brought to the editorship of the Ohio State 
Journal, the .same noble purposes, the same ilevotion to duty, and the same regard for 
the rights of others, as made his career so honorable as a soldier of the Republic. 

in a word, as citizen, soldier, director of the press, representative of his government 
abroad, friend or opponent, James M. Comly was able, faithfiil, courteous and manly, 
and it is just and proper that this expression of the sentiments of the members of the 
Western Associated Press should be spread upon the records of the .\ssociation. Vnd 
be it also 

iffsoJtJtd, That the President and Secretary be re'iuested to transmit a copy of this 
report to Mrs. Comly, with assurances of our heartfelt sympathy in this hour of trial. 

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